Some of reggae’s most important artists were living and recording in Toronto during the height of reggae’s popularity. Artists like Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Ronnie ‘Bop’ Williams, Johnny Osbourne and Stranger Cole were more than just your average reggae artists, they were foundational. While the names just mentioned are the marquee names, there were others that are lesser know and just important. Players like Anthony ‘Benbow’ Creary, Anthony ‘Bassie’ Hibbert and Bernie Pitters were backline musicians that played on elemental Jamaican recordings before and during their time in Toronto. Bernie was on the road with Toots & The Maytals for 10 years… these were serious players.
The Reggae Toronto project is going to attempt to talk to as many of these people as possible in order to hear their stories first hand. When the project is complete we hope you will be able to read about the artists that interest you and discover others that you weren’t aware of. Ultimately the hope is you can connect a person with any studio, store, location or song they were involved with.
The list below is just a sampling of the people that are mentioned or participating in the Reggae Toronto project.
- Leroy Brown
- Adrian “Homer” Miller
- Reggae George
- Alton Ellis
- Earth Roots & Eater
- Lillian Allen
- Ernie Smith
- Lord Tanamo
- Howie Smart
- Lovindeer
- Roots Wonder
- Ishan People
- Mesenjah
- Samuel Mickle
- Nana McLean
- Stamma Ranks
- Bryan Atkinson
- Jah B
- Noel Ellis
- Bunny Gemini
- Jerry Brown
- Oswald Creary
- Super 8 Corporation
- Carl Dawkins
- Jo Jo Bennett
- Patrick Rocktone
- Trevor Sinclair
- Carlene Davis
- Joe Isaacs
- Pete Weston
- Truths & Rights
- Carol Brown
- John Forbes
- Pluggy Satchmo
- Uplifter
- Chalawa
- Prince Jammy
- Webber Sisters
- Chester Miller
- King Culture
- R Zee Jackson
- Willi Williams
- Cornell Campbell
- Raffa Dean
- Winston Francis
Reggae Toronto 