King Kong - Legal *R.I.P Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson*

Back in the 1980s Steely & Clevie revolutionised the sound of dancehall music and basically produced 90 per cent of the dancehall music recorded in those days; this track being one of them.

If you have any doubt about their contribution to dancehall music take a look at their discography here http://www.discogs.com/artist/Steely+&+Clevie

1st September 2009, marked the passing of Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson, half of one of the most prolific production teams of the contemporary dancehall era - Steely & Clevie.

Steely first attracted attention during his tenure with Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion collective, playing keyboards on the 1978 classic Ghetto-ology before joining the ranks of the Roots Radics, the quintessential band of the early 1980s dancehall boom backing artistes such as Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer and many others.

At the time, Cleveland "Clevie" Brown, a veteran of Studio One sessions was beginning to explore the possibilities of drum machine technology, a subject of much derision from other drummers in the reggae community. He and Steely first played together at Lee "Scratch" Perry's legendary Black Ark Studios during the late 1970s, and the two men immediately clicked, frequently teaming in the years to follow.

By 1986 Steely and Clevie were established as the house band at King Jammy's Studio and the concept of electronic production was beginning to catch on among other artists. The duo, whose experiments with computer technology went back several years, was well ahead of the pack in this field.

King Jammy's became the hub of the reggae scene in the latter half of the 1980s, and Steely and Clevie maintained a relentless pace, cutting upwards of ten sides a week behind artists including Cocoa Tea and Dennis Brown. In 1988 they formed their own label, named simply Steely and Clevie, and soon scored major hits with singles from Foxy Brown, Tiger, Johnny P and Dillinger. The duo also issued a string of their own "one rhythm" records. Subsequent work with Maxi Priest, Shabba Ranks, Aswad and Caron Wheeler helped win Steely and Clevie even greater mass attention and solidified their dominance of the era.

Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson passed away on the morning of 1st September 2009 at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in Long Island, New York, from heart failure. He had been battling for his life after contracting pneumonia whilst recovering from kidney complications in December 2008. A great loss to the reggae community.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• reggae
• dancehall
• revival
• oldies
• greensleeves
• live
• and
• love
• jammys
• steely
• clevie
• bobby
• digital
• browningbbw

[750CA]

Another killer from Browning!

What can I say?

You can't be touched!!!!!!

[browningbbw]

@750CA Respect...Blessed Love

[HutchyBee]

Everytime I pass thru you upped something that brings back memories.... Wickedest youtube selector BY FAR! RIP Steely.... This duo gave me lots of entertainment during my formative years.... Respect is due...

[browningbbw]

Cheers HutchyBee. Always a pleasure to have you passing by. You know its all about the memories and Steely and Clevie have created so many for us.

[damnfunnychick]

ima hafta do a vid to this music do u mind

[browningbbw]

Of course not. Do ya thing girl

[dessie247]

wicked tune

[filabonce]

top choon, can anyone remind what was on the b side of this?, i had it , but sadly lost it , thanks

[jjamo5]

classic!

[Digiquarium]

Steely has left behind so much great music he sadly left us on 1st September '09 but his music will never die and his soul will never die. Maximum Respect to Steely. R.I.P.