U-Roy · Spotify · Courtesy of Spotify
U-Roy
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ewart Beckford
Ewart Beckford OD (21 September 1942 – 17 February 2021), known by the stage name U-Roy, was a Jamaican vocalist and pioneer of toasting. U-Roy was known for a melodic style of toasting applied with a highly developed sense of timing.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 1
Top works
- The Originator
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 161,761
- Total plays
- 1,053,151
Tags
U-Roy (born Ewart Beckford September 21, 1942 - died February 17, 2021) was a Jamaican musician also known as The Originator and Hugh Roy. He was born in Jones Town, Jamaica. U-Roy's musical career began in 1961 when he began DJing at various sound systems, eventually working with King Tubby. Tubby was then experimenting with his equipment, in the process of inventing dub music. With U-Roy as his most prominent DJ, King Tubby's new sound became extraordinarily popular and U-Roy became a Jamaica
via Last.fm · U-Roy
Key facts
- Musical artist.name
- U-Roy
- Musical artist.image
- U-Roy.jpeg
- Musical artist.landscape
- yes
- Musical artist.birth_name
- Ewart Beckford
- Musical artist.alias
- The OriginatorHugh RoyThe Teacher
- Musical artist.birth_place
- Jones Town, Jamaica
- Musical artist.death_place
- Kingston, Jamaica
- Musical artist.occupation
- Singer, songwriter
- Musical artist.years_active
- 1961–2021
- Musical artist.label
- Treasure Isle, Duke Reid, Virgin
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Jamaica
- Place of birth
- Kingston
- Place of death
- Kingston
- Occupation
- singer
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Award
- Order of Distinction
- Record label
- Trojan Records
Show 7 more facts
- date of birth
- 1942-09-21
- start of work period
- 1961-00-00
- date of death
- 2021-02-17
- end of work period
- 2018-00-00
- birth name
- Ewart Beckford
- pseudonym
- U-Roy
- social media followers
- 27100
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Early life
- Career
- U-Roy's music and Rastafari
- Death
- Legacy
- Album discography
- References
- External links
Ewart Beckford OD (21 September 1942 – 17 February 2021), known by the stage name U-Roy, was a Jamaican vocalist and pioneer of toasting. U-Roy was known for a melodic style of toasting applied with a highly developed sense of timing.
==Early life== Ewart Beckford was born in Jones Town, Saint Andrew Parish, Kingston, Jamaica, on 21 September 1942. He was raised within a religious and musical family; his mother was an organist for the choir at a local Seventh-day Adventist church. The sobriquet U-Roy originated from a younger member of his family who found it difficult to pronounce his first name. Beckford attended Denham Town High School in Kingston. As a young man Beckford listened to the music of Louis Prima, James Brown, Ruth Brown, Fats Domino, Rufus Thomas, Smiley Lewis and was especially influenced by the vocal phrasing of Louis Jordan.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “U-Roy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.