Reggaeology presents: The Mellow Moods of Judy Mowatt
Judy Mowatt is historically synonymous with Bob Marley, and her work with the Gaylettes, The I-Threes, and her shepherding Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers on tour in the band’s early years.
But it is her journey as a solo act spanning 5 decades, that leaves us with one of the most enduring stories in Reggae History.
By Lloyd Laing
Judy Mowatt is historically synonymous with Bob Marley, and her work with the Gaylettes, The I-Threes, and her shepherding Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers on tour in the band’s early years.
But it is her journey as a solo act spanning 5 decades, that leaves us with one of the most enduring stories in Reggae History.
Born Judith Veronica Mowatt in 1952, she grew up in the tight-knit community of Industrial Village in Gordon Town, St. Andrew where her local church would become her talent incubator, developing her knack for harmony, a skill that would later help her carve a path through Jamaica’s male-dominated music industry.
Ironically, however, it was her dancing skill that gave Judith her first taste of show business, when in 1958 she became a member of the Estrelita, A Jamaican cultural dance troupe, eventually going on to tour the Caribbean.
Her budding friendship while on tour with two fellow dancers, Beryl Lawson and Merle Clemonson, would lead to the formation of Jamaica’s first all-female group, the Gaylettes, and by the mid-’60s the three-part harmony group would be cutting records for Edward Seaga’s WIRL Records and Ken Khouri’s Merritone imprint on which they minted the 1967 hit, “Silent River Runs Deep”, backed by Lynn Tait and the Jets.
The 1968 single “I Like Your World” for Ken Khouri’s Federal Records would spawn the Gaylettes next hit single, and they would continue the streak with the 1969 remake of Dusty Springfield’s “Son Of a Preacher Man”.
The single would be the Gaylettes first transatlantic hit, and their last, as Beryl and Merle would leave Jamaica for greener pastures in New York, while Judith opted to remain in the Island to have her first son, and pursue nursing as a career.
Now a solo act Judy Mowatt would sign with Ken Khouri’s Federal records, minting the 1970 track “It Must Have Been Him”, for Khouri’s FRM imprint, earning the artists her first minor hit.
Other labels came knocking, but her contract with Federal Records prohibited Judy from using her Moniker “Judy Mowatt”, but on the advice of Sonia Pottinger, and Lee Scratch Perry, the artist would release tracks under various other monikers such as Judy, Judy Gaylette, Judith Mowatt, Sister Judy, and the popular Juliann, under which Mowatt would cut the 1972 hit “Way over Yonder”, a cover of the Carole King 1971 original with production by Sonia Pottinger on the Gay Feet Imprint.
The popularity of Judy Mowatt’s music under her various monikers led to Khouri releasing her from the iron-clad contract in 1972, and she in that very same year would carve out the UK hit single “In The Ghetto” for Edward Kassners’ Sioux Records as Judy Mowatt.
Her side hustle as a backup vocalist would lead to a fateful meeting with her future musical partners, Marcia Griffiths and Rita Marley, at a Coxsone Dodd studio session sometime in 1973.
That very night, the three hit it off instantly and would head to Chen’s NightClub in New Kingston where fate would pull the three even closer. Their open mike impromptu rendition of The Sweet Inspirations, 1968 monster hit, “Sweet Inspiration”, would bring the house down, and set the stage for what was to come.
Encouraged by the crowd and a highlight in the daily paper, the three women began pondering names initially settling on We Three, but under the advice of Bunny Wailer, quickly shifted to I-Threes, and the now-legendary group was born.
The birth of the I-Threes happened during Bob Marley’s solo run after his split with bandmates Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer.
Bob did not enjoy being a solo act, and on the advice of Lee Scratch Perry, and the growing popularity of I-Threes, Bob Marley would unite with the I-Threes to form the short-lived supergroup “Bob Marley and the I-Threes”, before Bob started dabbling with names changes, a very annoying habit of his if you consider the 17 he had before settling on the now-iconic Bob Marley & The Wailers nametag.
Along the way, Judy Mowatt would be encouraged by Lee Scratch Perry, to form her label, Ashanden in 1976, becoming the first female artist in Jamaican Music to own a record label, a feat unheard of in the bullish Reggae industry of the 1970s.
The I-Threes would continue to support Bob Marley as back up vocalists until he died in 1981. Judy would stay close to the fold, helping Rita to shepherd Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers on tour in their early years.
Mowatt, however, was always focused on her solo career while balancing her musical commitments to the I-threes and Bob Marley, a skill she earned from motherhood.
Along the way, she released two critically acclaimed solo albums; 1975’s ‘Mellow Mood” for Tuff Gong, and 1979’s cult classic “Black Woman”, for island Records, an album that would become a musical backdrop for the feminist movement of the 1980s.
Her signing with the U.S based Shanachie Records in 1982 would open doors for Judy Mowatt stateside, and her 1985 album “Working Wonders” for Shanachie would lead to a 1986 Reggae Grammy nomination, becoming the first female act to receive this milestone in Jamaican music history.
By the dawn of the ’90s, Judy Mowatt had established her presence as a cultural icon in the global Reggae landscape, with filmmaker Bianca Byrnd setting the tone in 1994 with the now cult-classic documentary “Roots Daughters”.
She would convert to Christianity at the close of the 90s, a move she would signal with her 1998 album “Love” for Claude Evan’s African Love imprint.
For the next 15 years, Judy Mowatt’s faith became her focus, but a steady resurgence of her music would lead to an entirely new generation of UK fans clamouring to see Judy Mowatt performing live in the 21 century, and that she did, returning to the stage in 2015 alongside Marcia Griffiths and Bob Andy to raving Millenial fans throughout the United Kingdom.
It can be argued, that at times, her presence as a solo act has been understated in comparison to her I-Threes counterparts, and her journey sometimes overshadowed by the Marley legacy, however her contribution to Jamaica’s Soundscape over the last 5 decades has never gone unrecognised, with her 1999 Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government honouring her presence and musical legacy as a riveted inspiration for future generations of Jamaican Female vocal acts, who aspire to become, Legends of Reggae.
https://podcasts.apple.com/jm/podcast/the-mellow-moods-of-judy-mowatt/id1541483912?i=1000499720449
For this podcast and more in the audio series please click on the links below
Don Drummond – The Mad Genuis – Reggaeology – The Reggae History Experience
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