Ellis was born in 1938 and grew up in Kingston's Trench Town district. Born into a musical family, he learned to play piano at a young age. He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport. He initially sought fame as a dancer, competing on Vere Johns' Opportunity Hour. After winning a couple of competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Perkins. Ellis and Perkins... Read more
Ellis was born in 1938 and grew up in Kingston's Trench Town district. Born into a musical family, he learned to play piano at a young age.[6] He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport.[7] He initially sought fame as a dancer, competing on Vere Johns' Opportunity Hour.[8] After winning a couple of competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Perkins.[9] Ellis and Perkins recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, initially in the R&B style, having a massive hit with "Muriel" (from Dodd's first commercially-oriented recording session at Federal studios),[10], a song Ellis had written whilst working as a labourer on a building site[7] and recording follow-ups with "My Heaven", "Lullabye Angel", "I Know It All", "I'm Never Gonna Cry" and "Yours".[7] The duo also recorded a few tracks for Vincent Chin's Randy's label, but came to an end when after winning a major talent contest, Perkins moved to the United States.[9] Ellis remained in Kingston, working as a printer and after losing his job, he restarted his music career, initially forming a new duo with John Holt.[7] When Holt joined The Paragons, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. Ellis continued to work for Dodd and also recorded for his arch-rival, Duke Reid on his Treasure Isle label.[9] By the mid 1960s, ska was moving on and the beat was slowing down to rocksteady and becoming associated with the violent rude boy subculture in Jamaican dancehalls. Many artists made records referring to the rude boys, including Ellis, although his records were consistently anti-rudie, including "Don't Trouble People", "Dance Crasher", and "Cry Tough", in contrast to artists such as Bob Marley, whom Ellis blamed for glorifiying the rudies.[10] Recording with The Flames (the varying line-up of which included his brother Leslie Ellis, David "Baby G" Gordon and Winston Jarrett), Ellis scored big with the hits "Girl I've Got a Date", "Cry Tough" and "Rock Steady", which was the first song to refer to the name of the newer genre. As rocksteady dominated the Jamaican airwaves for the next two years, Ellis continued to score hits for Treasure Isle, working with artists such as Lloyd Charmers, Phyllis Dillon and The Heptones. His Mr. Soul of Jamaica album is regarded as one of the definitive rocksteady albums. Show less
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