Desmond Dekker

Desmond Dekker was born Desmond Adolphus Dacres on July 16, 1941, in the St. Andrew suburb of Kingston, Jamaica. Following his mother's death, Dekker moved around the country before finally settling in Kingston, where he worked in a welding shop. He began displaying his singing talents while at work, and his co-workers encouraged him to pursue a musical career, particularly in the ska, reggae and rocksteady genres.
In his late-teens, Dekker started auditioning for Jamaican record labels and found success at age 20 after auditioning for Derrick Morgan, who was at that time Beverley's record label's biggest star. Although he was signed to the label in 1961, Dekker did not begin recording until 1963. It was around then that he changed his name and released his first hit in 1963, "Honour Your Mother and Father."

Dekker rose to fame rapidly. With his 1964 hit, "King of Ska," With backing vocals from The Cherrypies known as The Maytals, which made him one of Jamaica's biggest stars.

This was followed by the release of the tracks "Sinners Come Home" and "Labour for Learning”.

Soon after its release, Dekker recruited four men, Clive Campbell, Barry Howard, Carl Howard and Patrick Howard, to be his backup singers; The Four Aces, who later shortened their name to the Aces. The Aces, recorded a number of hits with Dekker, “Rude Boy Train” and “Rudie Got Soul” made Dekker a hero of Jamaica's rough urban 'rude boy' culture.

Desmond Dekker and The Aces recorded a number of Jamaican hits including "Parents", "Get Up Edina", "This Woman" and "Mount Zion". 

The themes of Dekker's songs during the first four years of his career dealt with the moral, cultural and social issues of mainstream Jamaican culture: respect for your parents, religious morality and education. In 1967 he appeared on Derrick Morgan 's "Tougher Than Tough", which helped begin a trend of popular songs commenting on the Rude Boy subculture, which was rooted in Jamaican ghetto life where opportunities for advancement were limited and life was economically difficult.

Dekker's own songs did not go to the extremes of many other popular rude boy songs which reflected the violence and social problems associated with ghetto life though he did introduce lyrics that resonated with the rude boys starting with one of his best-known songs, "007 (Shanty Town)". The song established Dekker as a rude boy icon in Jamaica and also became a favorite dance track for the young working-class men and women of the United Kingdom's Mod scene. "007 (Shanty Town)" was a Top 15 hit in the UK and his UK concerts were attended by a large following of mods wherever he played.

Dekker continued to release rude boy songs such as "It's a Shame", "Wise Man", "Hey Grandma", "Unity", "If It Pays", "Mother's Young Girl", "Sabotage" and "Pretty Africa". Many of the hits from this era came from his debut album, 007 (Shanty Town).

                                         

In 1968 Dekker's "Israelites" was released, eventually topping the UK Single Chart in April 1969 and peaking in the Top Ten of the Us Billboard Hot 100 in June 1969.

Dekker was the first Jamaican artist to have a hit record in the US with a form and style that was purely Jamaican. That same year saw the release of "Beautiful and Dangerous", "Writing on the Wall", "Music Like Dirt (Intensified '68)" (which won the 1968 Jamaica Independence Festival Song Contest), "Bongo Girl" and "Shing a Ling". 

1969 saw the release of "It Mek" which became a hit both in Jamaica and the UK. Dekker also released "Problems" and "Pickney Gal"; both of which were popular in Jamaica although only "Pickney Gal" managed to chart in the UK Top 50. In 1969 Dekker took permanent residency in the UK.

By the end of the 1960s, Dekker had won the Golden Trophy award, presented annually to Jamaica's top singer, five times. His song "007 (Shanty Town)" made it onto the soundtrack of the 1972 Jamaica reggae film The Harder They Come. Dekker moved to England in the early 1970s and signed with Staff Records, an influential new-wave label. Throughout the 1970s, Dekker toured regularly and continued to produce hits. Among them was his version of Jamaica reggae star Jimmy Cliff’s “ You Can Get It If You Really Want”.

Dekker Participated in several collaborations and worked with a ska revival band, The Specials, on an album.

Dekker died of a heart attack on May 25, 2006, at his home in Surrey, England, one week before he was set to begin a European tour. He was 64 years old at the time. Dekker was divorced and survived by two children, a son and daughter.