Lloyd Clarke

With his warm tenor and expressive delivery, Lloyd Clarke was a born singer, although he was to find little financial reward for his efforts. Cutting his first song in 1960, Clarke released a string of singles over the course of the decade, still much sought after by fans and collectors. With no album to his name, however, the singer's name and fame have diminished over the years, barely helped by the paucity of his numbers that have been scattered across compilations. Clarke was born in 1937, in Linstead Saint Catherine, Jamaica; however, his family moved to the Trench Town neighborhood of Kingston while he was still an infant. As a child, he sang in the local church, and impressed both teachers and fellow students at high-school performances. Like many of the island's talents, the youngster also found success on the talent circuit, winning top place on the prominent Opportunity Hour show several times during the late '50s. In 1960, Duke Reid brought Clarke into the studio for the first time, where he recorded "Parapinto Boogie," an instant sound system smash and a popular single on both sides of the Atlantic -- Blue Beat picked it for release that same year. For whatever reason, that appears to have been the only number the singer cut for Reid and, even odder, the singer never recorded with Coxsone Dodd, but he happily worked with many other foundation producers. In 1961, Clarke recorded with Prince Buster and cut a clutch of singles for Lloyd Daley, including the hit "Girls Rush," and several more for Charlie Moo, 1963's hit "Japanese Girl" among them. More producers beckoned in 1962, including Simeon L. Smith, who oversaw two more hits ("Good Morning" and "You're a Cheat"), and Leslie Kong, who produced the wildly popular "Love You the Most." Clarke also unleashed...