Bob Andy: A Life in Song

Mastering the art of longevity is not an easily accomplished task and it is made particularly more difficult by the standards set forth by the music industry. It requires adaptability, perseverance, and above all else, a unique and impressive skill set. Luckily for Bob Andy, and good luck for his legion of devout fans, he not only possesses but thrives in all 3 categories. Andy, a bonafide global reggae legend, burst onto the scene in 1966 with his smash hit, “I’ve Got to Go Back Home.” In the years since, he has gone on to impress fans and critics alike with a range of talent, from vocalist and writer, to producer and stage actor. He has engendered a string of solo hits, among them, “Feeling Soul,” “My Time” and “Going Home.”  Along with Marcia Griffiths, he formed the Bob and Marcia duo that delighted a global audience with hits like “Young, Gifted, and Black,” and the well-received album, Kemar LP. As the Promotions Director for Tuff Gong, he was responsible for finding and honing the talent of artists such as Ernest Wilson and Tyrone Taylor. Andy has also tried his hand in acting, with a stint that included a starring role in the film, “Children of Babylon,” along with a string of stage performances. He has been honored with an array of awards and special recognition, including the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander, as set forth by the country of Jamaica. Having led as diverse and accomplished a career as one could aspire towards, Andy took some of his precious time with Backayard to discuss his distinguished career.    

How did you get the name ‘Bob Andy’?

Well, I got out of school at an early age. I started at a school in hills of Kentucky, Westmoreland then I went to Rusea Primary School off Chisholm Avenue. I was trying hard to get a secondary education but it wasn’t in the stars. So I dropped out of school pretty young– I would say at age 14. I started discovering the piano off of my own volition. I loved music as a child I was always taken by the image of the dog listening to speaker ‘His Master’s Voice’ that used to freak me out. When I started looking at ‘78 recorded discs under the title of the song used to be a name in brackets and then the singer’s name. I always wondered what the name or names in brackets was all about. I found out later that it was the writer of the song. I think that triggered something in me. I didn’t know anything about marketing or advertising in those days, the fact that even if the songwriter was the singer, their name would still be in brackets. The fact that you will probably never know who the writer was in terms of a visual, but the fact that his credit was there, meant a lot to me.

So I moved into a place where there was a piano, one of the daughters of my foster mother played actually. But it mostly spent time there not being used and I had time on my hands, so I spent time checking it out. I was able to find notes and put melodies to the notes I found.

By the time I went to Studio One, after I left The Paragons, most of the people I ran into were my idols. So to be able to rubbing shoulders and to be able to be writing songs that they would like enough to use was really a thrill for I. After awhile I decided to put my voice on some of these recordings so one day Coxsone said to me, “So Keith wah yuh waan go pon dem record yah.” At the age of 17 and half, I was working at Bellevue Hospital training in psychiatry and when I was about to put my name on the song I remembered that they used to call me Andy at the hospital short for Anderson. I wanted to use Bob because that is what they called my child at time ‘Baby Bob’ remember, yuh nuh, – at that time Bob Marley wasn’t Bob Marley he was just a part of the Wailers actually they used to call him Robbie -. So I took the Bob from my child’s name and put it to Andy and the secret to that was as a child I was popular at school and I would have been embarrassed to have started something and have failed. If I used my right name they would have found out but if I changed it to another name nobody would have known I tried and rest is history.

It is a good name. 

Some people like to say Bobandy like it is one name….

I could see that, it is probably easier for them to say it overseas. So how did you get your start in music with the Paragons?

It was a church movement, I mean I have told this story countless times but it is always a good story. We started singing as a duo, Don Evans and myself and there were lots of duos out in Jamaica at that time: Alton & Eddie, The Charmers, Keith & Enid, The Blues Busters, Higgs & Wilson and they were all doing well. Tyrone (Don) felt that would have been a hard field to come into so we became a trio then a quartet then a quintet then a quartet then a trio then a duo, we kept changing until we were satisfied we got the sound we were looking for.

When did you get satisfied with the sound? 

Well you could have alot of sounds but they won’t necessary blend and we were looking for a blend. The blend really is chemistry so you can have 10 people singing harmonies and it sound very good but when you have the right tones you get a blend. And so when we brought John Holt in, one of the greatest singers of all time, he was a good fit in the group. I had my other dreams so I left the group in 1966 they went to Treasure Island and I went to Coxsone Records. Paragons had done some of their early recordings at Studio One with Coxsone and I liked how Coxsone worked and he liked my talent and admired my talent. I stayed and developed the Bob Andy myth and legend.

You were in your early twenties at the time…

In 1966, I was 22 and I worked at Bellevue from [the age of] 17 to 20. I started recording at Studio One at age 20. I had to do a couple of exams to become a nurse, I passed the first one but I was so busy with the group that I decided to leave the work. Mostly because I wasn’t able to give enough time to the profession and music was what I really wanted to do so that’s what happened.

While you were working with Sir Coxsone, were you doing mostly writing for others?

Actually, starting out I had to audition other artistes and when I saw how recording was done, I went down to where Tuff Gong is now on Marcus Garvey Drive. It used to be called Federal Records owned by the Khouris. I took the mono track by the time I took it down to Coxsone it became a two track. I went about learning overdubbing with the facilities given to me and I did alot of the harmonies and alot of the songs do there Marcia (Griffiths) and myself. Mainly, that was how we used to earn because royalties wasn’t happening at that time because most of the songs have not been released for me to get any money from it. I liked her voice and her too and I had some songs in the embryonic stage so I finished them, gave birth to them and sung them to her and she like them. We started recording after recording I liked what I heard. We sang a song for Delroy Wilson he liked it, we recorded it. We sang a song for Ken Boothe he liked it, we recorded it. So I thought if my songs sound so good with other people singing it let me see if I could try some and I put my voice on a couple of the songs and they liked them very much…

Was this all at Studio One? 

Yes, all at Studio One, Coxsone environment. Those were very dynamic times we were just coming out of independence and we had certain fervor. I not even sure that we even knew what independence fully meant. The celebration of the fact that we were shedding the skin of colonial system with the instruct of black power writings: Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, social and political consciousness just grew. So when I heard “Babylon” for the first time I really liked the song and I realized that I don’t have to sing about being in love and I can sing about other things. So that really appealed to me to this minute, I have a propensity to reflect on socio-economic issues that concern people of all cultures. What calypso was to Trinidad, mento was to Jamaica, once you hear that mento guitar and rhumba box you know the thing that you pick with your fingers. When you find a band that can manage that even today like those mento guys who are now famous…

The Jolly Boys… 

Jolly Boys, they are big now with album and music videos and they started out doing mento. So, all the songs that I recorded were never really released cause Coxsone kept them for dance clashes. So my whole repertoire for him was only being played in the dance. So I wouldn’t have anything to sell to generate royalties. So someone came from Federal saying that they wanted to see me there. They had heard my work in the dancehall and I did a song for them called ‘Games People Play,’ the cover version. In two weeks it was number 1 on both radio stations.

Which year was that?  

’68…’69. So Coxsone started releasing the songs he had in the dancehall.

What was the response to the release of the songs?

Well ‘Games People Play’ was such a success and my recordings with Coxsone had developed a dancehall following so when they were being played on the radio people knew them. So I had developed a fan base through the dance was now reaching out to new fans. Right after that someone called to asked me to a cover of another song ‘Young, Gifted and Black’ in 1970. I invited Marcia and asked her to sing the song along with me and Judy Mowatt and Norris Weir of the Jamaicans.  So it was just after two covers one after the other and I went solo in the space of two years.  

Which label was ‘Young, Gifted and Black’ released on?

It was released on Harry J Records and when it went to England it went on Trojan. Marcia and myself traveled all across Europe.

Was it based off of that hit that you traveled outside of Jamaica for the first time? 

I went to the Bahamas, went to Florida, the Cayman Islands just as Bob Andy on my own fame. But I travelled across the big pond for the first time when we were called to present the song on Top of the Pops. In 1972 we did another cover ‘Pied Piper’ and that also went into British charts so we toured on that again. When we came back from Europe in the mid-70s, Marcia was invited to become a member of the I-Threes so we really didn’t do any work together again at least not as consistent. This was because she was now otherwise occupied with her solo career and her engagements with the group. Sometime after I did a film ‘Children of Babylon’ in 1979…

During that time between 1979 and the last time you recorded with Marcia, did you mainly release singles?

I was somewhat disenchanted about my life. Marley was hot at that time, Third World, Maytals.  After my experiences in England and the Eastern Bloc I became a bit disillusioned. I just went off learning to play and watching a lot of tennis in America. I was fortunate to be in a film called ‘The Mighty Quinn’ but with all that was happening I spending whatever money I had recording. I didn’t have a distribution deal or anything but writing is what I could do, producing is what I could do and playing was what I could do, so I just put them together and kept myself occupied. Which is the reason why I have such a vast and varied catalogue today. 

So you were stockpiling tapes for future use?

Yes, for future use and the future is now. The new album will be Bob Andy song book branding so it will be ‘Bob Andy Song Book Volume 2’. We are trying to get that ready for Christmas if not early next year. Which will be a album comprising of songs that has been recorded but never released. So they are still brand new to the audience. After the [‘Bob Andy Unplugged,’ late 2011] concert, we have to make use of the amount of press we are receiving. Make more songs for people to hear, enjoy and ultimately purchase if they see fit.

There is a time gap from the 80s up to the present day in your musical output. What kept you occupied during that time period?

I did some work in England with the last remnants left over from the Bob and Marcia days. When she was touring with Bob Marley, I wasn’t necessarily doing a lot of recording but I was touring England and places like Japan. ’85 I went to Japan when I made the album ‘Friends.’ I made the album ‘Freely’ in the 80s as well, I wasn’t really up front but I never stop creating. I had a label which started out as ‘Jamrock’ became eventually I-Anka and my publishing company was called Andisongs. They were registered in England, I started my publishing from a very early stage. My favourite artiste was Sam Cooke and I read a lot about him. He was a youngster that started to understand publishing from a very early stage. Also one of the grandfathers of Jamaican music, I mean he was one of the unsung heroes, Joe Higgs of Higgs and Wilson fame was somewhat responsible for somewhat coordinating the Wailers. He saw me writing up at Studio One and said that there were associations around the world that I could become a member of and have your work protected. I sent in a copy of my songs and they received it and made me a member of the Performing Right Society which is a copyright protection organization. I was a member from the mid-60s but that still doesn’t prevent people from trying to take your work. Someone can successfully re register your song and the society will hold all royalties until the courts decide. Studio One and myself are currently in the courts and I won’t say much more about it because it is in the courts. It is life. I had ‘Hanging Tough’ album with one of my favourite musicians Willie Lindo and had another album for myself. After that been quietly recording and I am looking to make some of these things available in the near future.

Which process do you enjoy more, writing a good song or recording?

My desire back then was to craft the [best] song I possibly could. If it was plumbing I was doing I would want to do the plumbing to best of my ability because that is just how I am. I came to understand at a very early stage that perfection in this plane is not constant for humanity. The earth is perfect as it is and we are perfect as we are. But we do have perfect moments, a perfect moment that affected my life happened only 3 years ago. The guy who landed the plane in the Hudson (River) was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen in my lifetime. Michael Jordan midflight switching the ball from right to left hand is another for me. So I always wanted to perfect the moment. When I write songs, it is with that in mind, which is probably why they have stood the test of time.

Do you have a favourite song that you were a part of?   

Let me tell you, a person might have 6 children and love them all and without telling the others they might have a special affinity to one for whatever reason. The album I put together in the 80s, ‘Friends’ I loved the title track on that. It has a message that will outlive my generation and stay for generations to come. It is my dream that youths can coexist peacefully. I have watched and experienced the various genres of Jamaican music evolving. And while you might not be particularly impressed with some of the material that comes out, each generation should be allowed to have a say. One of the strong points about our music is that we reflect our reality. It could be smutty but it is reality and is up to you if you want to associate yourself with that sort of thing. It is how some of these people manage to feed their family and help others to go to school and stuff. It is a long story about negative music suffice to say I don’t look at life in negative numbers. I never see music as negative or positive, if you love music some music you will just love more than others. ‘Unchained’ is another one I really loved because it was what I was going through at the time and I had so many fans who emphasized. No money can supplant the feeling you get when someone comes up to you and tells you how much you have impacted their lives, it is a marvelous privilege to have. As an artiste, I have to maintain and assume responsibility. The fact is, if you are a public figure, you are a role model. Going to Manifesto at Edna Manley and seeing the fine artistes being developed, pleases me greatly especially at this stage of my life. It is good that the youths remember that music is very important as it is the soundtrack to life. If I could leave the youths with anything I would leave them with lyrics from my song ‘Life,’ “Discover your ability, Develop your creativity, Cultivate humility” because as the song says, the more you give to life is the more you get from life.

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Amilcar Lewis

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