The Jiving Juniors

The aptly named Jiving Juniors were probably one of the most popular vocal ensembles from the Jamaican R&B period, with some historians ranking them among the top three artists from the “pioneer years.” Even more romantic compared to the traveling boogie of Laurel Aitken or Derrick Morgan, the Jiving Juniors withered teens’ hearts with ballads and doo wop like tunes on such chartbusters as “Lollipop Woman,” “On the River,” and “Sugars Dandy.” Nevertheless, their split in the dawn of ska and their lack from this important period covered their fate like a musical footnote and they’re remembered today only a small amount more than the automobile for lead vocalist Derrick Harriott’s early achievement. Created in 1958 by college students at Excelsior and Kingston Schools, the teenaged users included Eugene Dwyer, Herman Sang, Maurice Winter season, and, needless to say, Derrick Harriott (given birth to 1942). In the past due ’50s, the group documented for many from the period’s main suppliers, including Edward Seaga, Duke Reid, and Clement “Coxsone” Dodd. In 1960, Reid released “Lollipop Woman” as well as the quartet rocketed to the very best of the recently founded Jamaican pop graphs. The R&B ballad characterizes the passionate tone of several of the tunes which same 12 months, “My Heart’s Desire” also strike big. The religious doo wop “On the River” was their following main success. A significant route marker on the highway of Jamaican music, the track is really a laid-back boogie having a acoustic guitar offbeat so greatly accented it noises almost indistinguishable from ska. Although Dodd didn’t launch the record until 1961, it had been possibly recorded very much earlier — maybe as soon as 1959 — and features trombonist Rico Rodriguez’s 1st single. Their last main hit was included with the 1962 launch “Sugars Dandy.” While greatly popular, the monitor demonstrated the swan track for the group’s doo wop design, saccharine lyrics, and Harriott’s occasionally shrill falsetto. Later on that 12 months, as Jamaica received its self-reliance and ska started to dominate the music picture, the Jiving Juniors split without scoring a significant hit in the brand new genre. Harriott departed to create his Crystal label and all of those other group still left Jamaica a couple of years afterwards for places north. While still in Jamaica, Eugene Dwyer attempted to start out two groupings, one known as Zodiac and another known as the Pacesetters, but neither acquired much achievement and he, as well, still left Jamaica in 1980. Harriott was obviously the most effective skill to emerge from the group, both being a single vocalist on “Solomon” and “Loser” so when a producer, documenting dozens of performers up with the 1990s.