Scotty

Biography

David Scott, better known as Scotty, was an extremely popular singer and DJ in Jamaica. Born in Westmorland, Jamaica, in 1950 (some sources indicate 1951 or 1952), he was raised in Kingston and attended Kingston Technical High School. Even before graduating, he had entered the music business professionally, as a member of the Federals alongside Valman Smykle and Franklin Spence. The group and Scotty acquired a serious following with his lead vocal on "Penny for Your Song." The rocksteady-style single, which charted locally, was recorded under the auspices of rocksteady singer-turned-promoter/producer Derrick Harriott and released that same year.

He hung on with the Federals across the next two years and a string of failed singles, he and Spence then forming the Chosen Few with singers Noel "Bunny" Brown and Richard MacDonald. In 1970, the group received some positive exposure as backup vocalists on Hopeton Lewis' single "Boom Shacka Lacka," and broke out on their own with "Psychedelic Train," a single produced by Harriott, that topped the Jamaican charts in 1970. It was with Harriott that Scotty emerged as a popular DJ personality on records, his witty and charming persona appearing on more than half a dozen chart hits over the next year, including the single "Sesame Street" (credited to "Scotty & the Crystalites"), and he made it onto the soundtrack of The Harder They Come in 1973. Scotty's solo single "Riddle I This" was also selected as the leadoff track for The Trojan Story, Vol. 2 when it came time to present that label's history in the late '90s.

In 1974 he moved to the United States, establishing a record company and recording studio in Florida. His career faltered later in the decade, and he resumed recording in the 1980s in Jamaica without much success. He had started recording again in recent years and was working on an album for Studio One at the time of his death from prostate cancer in early 2003 at age 53 (some sources say he was 51). ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide