{"id":743,"date":"2015-06-16T11:49:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T10:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/?p=743"},"modified":"2011-03-02T18:35:59","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T18:35:59","slug":"the-prince","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/the-prince\/","title":{"rendered":"The Prince"},"content":{"rendered":"

We feature one of the all time Ska\/Rocksteady Legends, Prince Buster <\/strong>and shine a light on exactly why this vibrant music has lasted so long!<\/p>\n

*Adapted From Wiki
\nPrince Buster<\/strong>
\nCecil Bustamente Campbell,\u00a0O.D.\u00a0(born 28 May 1938), better known as\u00a0Prince Buster\u00a0and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a\u00a0musician from\u00a0Kingston,\u00a0Jamaica\u00a0is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of\u00a0ska\u00a0and\u00a0rocksteady\u00a0music. The records he made on the\u00a0Blue\u00a0Beat\u00a0label in the 1960s inspired many\u00a0reggae\u00a0and ska artists.<\/p>\n

Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early life<\/strong>
\nCampbell began his professional career as a singer in 1956; performing in Kingston nightclubs. He formed a succession of bands with several of his friends, none\u00a0of which were successful.<\/p>\n

Campbell’s music career reached maturity with the growth of the\u00a0sound system. Across Jamaica, music promoters drove vans filled with stereo equipment to\u00a0stage mobile parties. The operators of the sound system would play the popular\u00a0R&B\u00a0dance records of the day and often they would have a vocalist called\u00a0atoaster\u00a0call out the dancers’ names, chant in rhythm, and make light-hearted boasts. Deejay “toasting” was one of the precursors to the style of vocal delivery\u00a0that eventually evolved into\u00a0rap.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Campbell was introduced to\u00a0Clement Dodd, a musically-inclined businessman who operated one of Kingston’s most popular sound systems.\u00a0Interestingly, Campbell was not hired as a musician but as security; because of rivalries between fans devoted to a particular sound system, the parties\u00a0sometimes could become quite rough, and Campbell had been a skillful amateur\u00a0boxer\u00a0as a teenager. It was in this line of work that he earned the nickname “The\u00a0Prince”, which along with his boyhood moniker “Buster” (from his middle name Bustamente), formed the name under which he would later become famous.<\/p>\n

Artistic and producing career<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1960, Buster produced a record for the\u00a0Folkes Brothers\u00a0for the Wild Bells label, “Oh Carolina,” under his nickname. This record was Jamaica’s first to involve an element of African music – the drumming\u00a0in the record was provided by\u00a0Count Ossie, the lead nyabinghi drummer from the\u00a0rastafarian\u00a0camp, Camp David in the hills above Kingston. It was an instant hit in Jamaica, and Buster’s early records,\u00a0which were released in the\u00a0UK\u00a0by\u00a0Blue Beat\u00a0Records contributed greatly to the developing sound of\u00a0ska. Buster was soon recording his own compositions as well as producing records for others.<\/p>\n

\n

From 1963 to the end of the decade, Buster wrote and produced hundreds of songs for\u00a0Blue Beat. Soon after his initial success, Buster was drawing international attention. He toured Britain extensively\u00a0during this period, playing to sellout crowds, and appeared on commercial TV broadcaster\u00a0Rediffusion London’s\u00a0Friday early-evening pop show\u00a0Ready, Steady, Go!\u00a0in 1964. While in England, Buster\u00a0metWorld Heavyweight Champion\u00a0boxer\u00a0Muhammad Ali, a meeting that resulted in Buster joining the\u00a0Nation of Islam\u00a0as well as Ali being mentioned in the song “Earthquake on Orange Street.”He went\u00a0on to be a popular as a recorded and touring artist in Europe, and though none of his singles charted as highly in the\u00a0United States, he went on a successful American tour in 1967 to support the little-knownRCA Victor\u00a0LP release “The Ten Commandments (From Man To Woman)”. Today, the album (catalog LSP-3792) is a highly-sought-after rarity among collectors of ska and foundation reggae.
\nPrince Buster had two\u00a0hit singles\u00a0in the\u00a0UK. “Al Capone” (#18, 1967) and much later with an updated version of “Whine And Grine”, which was used on a\u00a0television advertisement\u00a0(#21, 1998). In 1972\u00a0Buster gained notoriety for the title track of his album\u00a0Big Five, a raunched-up re-write of\u00a0Brook Benton’s\u00a0“Rainy Night in Georgia” with explicit references to\u00a0sex\u00a0and\u00a0drugs.<\/p>\n

Besides being a pioneering musician, Buster, like Clement Dodd, was also very interested in business. He started a\u00a0record shop\u00a0in Kingston in the early 1960s which is still owned and operated by his family\u00a0today. Later he founded a\u00a0jukebox\u00a0company. He also started the Prince Buster Records label, at first as an attempt to keep the Melodisc label viable but today is used to reissue his music.<\/p>\n

\n

Post-recording life<\/strong>
\nThe ska sound and rhythms were undergoing a change by the late 1960s, musicians were slowing the beat and introducing more subtle rhythmic pulses that audiences found less frantic and therefore easier\u00a0to dance too. This new music was eventually called rocksteady, slower than ska and more influenced by gospel and soul. Rocksteady itself would eventually be replaced by\u00a0reggae. In addition to the\u00a0musical influence that ska and rocksteady exerted, many reggae lyrics expressed an\u00a0Afrocentric,\u00a0Marcus Garvey-inspired worldview, which had been present in some of Prince Buster’s songs.\u00a0Bob\u00a0Marley, Toots Hibbert, and other reggae stars have acknowledged their debt. Buster also made a cameo appearance in the acclaimed international hit movie,\u00a0The Harder They Come. However, reggae’s\u00a0Rastafarianorientation led the Muslim Prince to keep an arms distance away from the new music. He turned toward more traditional tourist-based business ventures instead and gracefully exited the\u00a0Jamaican music scene.
\nBy the late 1970s, Buster was in serious financial trouble. His business ventures were all posting losses or low profits, and the loans he had taken out to start them were catching up. Fortunately for him,\u00a0ska was experiencing a revival in the United Kingdom, and the most\u00a0prominent bands of the revival\u00a0drew from his material. In 1979, the band\u00a0Madness\u00a0(named after one of Prince Buster’s songs) released\u00a0their first record, a tribute to Buster called “The Prince”, which urged ska fans to remember “the man who set the beat”. Their second single was a cover of Buster’s “One Step Beyond” which reached the\u00a0Top 10, and a cover of the band’s namesake, “Madness,” was also included on the debut\u00a0Madness\u00a0album. On their\u00a0first album,\u00a0The Specials\u00a0covered “Too Hot” and drew heavily on “Judge Dread” in the\u00a0song “Stupid Marriage” and “Al Capone” in the song “Gangsters.”\u00a0The Specials\u00a0also included a cover of Buster’s version of\u00a0“Enjoy Yourself”, on their\u00a0second album. Not to be outdone, the\u00a0The Beatincluded\u00a0on its\u00a0first album\u00a0covers of the Buster originals “Rough Rider” and “Whine & Grine.” Interest in Buster soared during this time; he received royalties when his songs were covered by\u00a02-Tone\u00a0bands, and his\u00a0old records were re-issued and sold well. Buster’s songs continued to be popular sources for ska bands in the U.S., an example being\u00a0The Toasters\u00a0covering “Hard Man Fe Dead” in 1996. In 1989, Prince\u00a0Buster recorded a 12″ single with London based ska and blues band, The Trojans, which was released on Gaz’s Rockin’ Records in the UK. “Stack O Lee” was a\u00a0limited edition\u00a0and it sold out within weeks.<\/p>\n

Prince Buster now lives in\u00a0Miami,\u00a0Florida. He has performed at a few shows over the past several years, including the 2002 Legends Of Ska festival in Toronto, in Dedham, Massachusetts in 2002, in the\u00a02006 Boss Sounds Reggae Festival in\u00a0Newcastle upon Tyne, 40th Montreoux Jazz Festival in Switzerland with Delroy Williams Junction Band and 2007’s\u00a0Rhythm Festival. During the last day of the\u00a02008Notting Hill Carnival, Prince Buster made an appearance on the Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues stage, alongside\u00a0The Trojans.<\/p>\n

Prince Buster was due to make a rare live appearance in London on September 5, 2009 at Camden Centre, but it was announced by email to ticket holders on August 24, 2009 that it was cancelled.<\/p>\n

\n

Album discography<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0I Feel The Spirit\u00a0(1963)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Fly Flying Ska\u00a0(1964)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0It’s Burke’s Law\u00a0(1965)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Pain In My Belly\u00a0(1965)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Ska-Lip-Soul\u00a0(1965)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0What A Hard Man Fe Dead\u00a0(1967)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Prince Buster On Tour\u00a0(1967)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Judge Dread Rock Steady\u00a0(1967)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Ten Commandments\u00a0– RCA (1967)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Wreck A Pum Pum\u00a0(1968)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Tutti Frutti\u00a0– Melodisc (1968)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0FABulous Greatest Hits\u00a0– FAB (1968)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The Outlaw\u00a0– Blue Beat (1969)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a015 Oldies but Goodies\u00a0– FAB<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Big Five\u00a0– Melodisc (1972)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The Message-Dub Wise\u00a0– FAB\/Melodisc (1972)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Dance Cleopatra Dance\u00a0– Blue Elephant (1972)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Chi Chi Run\u00a0– FAB (1973)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0She Was A Rough Rider\u00a0(1978)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Sister Big Stuff\u00a0– Melodisc (1976)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Jamaica’s Greatest\u00a0– Melodisc<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Subliminal Reaction\u00a0– Subliminal Reacton<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0FABulous Greatest Hits – 1963-1981\u00a0– Sequel (1993)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The Original Golden Oldies Volume 1\u00a0(1998)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The Original Golden Oldies Volume 2\u00a0(1999)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The King of Ska\u00a0(2002)<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Prince of Peace: Prince Buster with Determinations Live in Japan\u00a0(2003)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

UK hit singles<\/strong><\/p>\n

23 February 67\t“Al Capone”
\n4 April 98\t“Whine and Grine”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campbell began his professional career as a singer in 1956; performing in Kingston nightclubs. He formed a succession of bands with several of his friends, none of which were successful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,89],"tags":[163],"series":[],"class_list":["post-743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-plugs","category-reggae","tag-prince-buster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}