occupation dennis bovell
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966 . A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae , rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads , The Maytals , The Heptones and The Paragons . The term " rocksteady " comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song " Rock Steady ". Dances performed to rocksteady were less energetic than the earlier ska dances . The first international rocksteady hit was " Hold Me Tight " ( 1968 ) by the American soul ___MASK10___ Johnny Nash ; it reached number one in ___MASK100___ . Linton Kwesi Johnson ( aka LKJ , born 24 August 1952 ) is a UK - based Jamaican - British dub ___MASK96___ . In 2002 he became the second living ___MASK96___ , and the only black ___MASK96___ , to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series . His performance poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub - reggae , usually written in collaboration with renowned British reggae producer / artist Dennis Bovell . Johnson ' s middle name , " Kwesi ", is a Ghanaian name that is given to boys who , like Johnson , are born on a Sunday . Rhythm and blues , often abbreviated as ___MASK41___ & B or RnB , is a genre of popular African - American music that originated in the 1940s . The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans , at a time when " urbane , rocking , jazz based music with a heavy , insistent beat " was becoming more popular . In the ___MASK93___ rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s , the bands usually consisted of piano , one or two guitars , bass , drums , saxophone , and sometimes background vocalists . ___MASK41___ & B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African - American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy . Lyrics focus heavily on the themes of triumphs and failures in terms of relationships , freedom , economics , aspirations , and sex . Toots and the Maytals , originally called The Maytals , are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and rock steady vocal groups . The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music . Frontman Toots Hibbert ' s soulful vocal style has been compared to Otis Redding , and led him to be named one of the 100 Greatest Singers by " Rolling Stone ". Their 1968 single " Do the Reggay ", was the first song to first use the word " reggae ", naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience . As Island Records ___MASK38___ Chris Blackwell says ,  The Maytals were unlike anything else ... sensational , raw and dynamic . A ___MASK96___ is a person who writes poetry . Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others . A ___MASK96___ may simply be a writer of poetry , or may perform their art to an audience . Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s . The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora . A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals " Do the Reggay " was the first popular song to use the word " reggae ," effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience . While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music , the term " reggae " more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues , especially the New Orleans ___MASK41___ & B practiced by Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint , and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady . Reggae usually relates news , social gossip , and political comment . Reggae spread into a commercialized jazz field , being known first as  Rudie Blues , then  Ska , later  Blue Beat , and  Rock Steady . It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat , and the offbeat rhythm section . The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rock steady ; from the latter , reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument . Antoine " Fats " Domino , Jr . ( born February 26 , 1928 ) is an American ___MASK9___ and singer - songwriter of French Creole descent . Five of his records released before 1955 sold over a million copies and were certified as gold records , and he had 35 records in the U . S . Top 40 . His musical style is based on traditional rhythm and blues , accompanied by saxophones , bass , piano , electric guitar , and drums . Ska ( Jamaican ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae . Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues . It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off - beat . Ska developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when ___MASK99___ Buster , Clement " Coxsone " Dodd , and ___MASK94___ Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm & blues and then began recording their own songs . Some suggest ska dates to earlier times , however . In the early 1960s , ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods . Later it became popular with many skinheads . Dennis Bovell ( born 22 May 1953 ) is a reggae ___MASK98___ , bass player and record ___MASK48___ . He was a ___MASK34___ of the British reggae band Matumbi , and released dub - reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym Blackbeard . He is most widely known for his decades - spanning collaborations with Linton Kwesi Johnson . Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans , United States , in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . Since the 1920s jazz age , jazz has become recognized as a ___MASK8___ form of musical expression . It emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles , all linked by the common bonds of African American and European American musical parentage with a performance orientation . Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes , call and response vocals , polyrhythms and improvisation . Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression , and in African - American music traditions including blues and ragtime , as well as European ___MASK53___ band music . Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States , different cultures have contributed their own experience and styles to the art form as well . Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as " one of America ' s original art forms ". " Do the Reggay " is a reggae song by The Maytals . Written by Toots Hibbert , produced by Leslie Kong and released on Beverly ' s Records in Jamaica and Pyramid Records in the UK in 1968 . " Do the Reggay " was the first popular song to use the word " reggae " and defined the developing genre by giving it its name . At that time , " reggay " had been the name of a passing dance ___MASK92___ in Jamaica , but the song ' s connection of the word with the music itself led to its use for the style of music that developed from it . Allen Toussaint ( January 14 , 1938  November 10 , 2015 ) was an American ___MASK72___ , songwriter , arranger and record producer , who was an influential figure in New Orleans R & B from the 1950s to the end of the century , described as " one of popular music  s great backroom figures ." Many musicians recorded Toussaint ' s compositions , including " Java ", " Mother - in - Law ", " I Like It Like That ", " Fortune Teller ", " Ride Your Pony ", " Get Out of My Life , Woman ", " Working in the Coal Mine ", " Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky ", " Here Come the Girls ", " Yes We Can Can ", " Play Something Sweet ", and " Southern Nights ". He was a producer for hundreds of recordings , among the best known of which are " Right Place , Wrong Time ", by his longtime friend Dr . John (" Mac " Rebennack ), and " Lady Marmalade ", by Labelle .