World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Admiral Bailey

Artist. Dancehall

Active
1986-present
Sunrise
March 15, 1966, Cockburn Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica

Admiral Bailey (born Glendon Bailey) is a Jamaican deejay whose run of hits for King Jammy, from 1986 into the early 1990s, made him one of the first deejay stars of the digital era.

Bailey came up on U-Roy's King Sturgav Hi-Fi sound system and then on King Jammy's own Super Power sound. In 1986 Josey Wales brought him to King Jammy's studio in Waterhouse, where Steely and Clevie were assembling the computer-generated riddims that had displaced live-band recording almost overnight. His first hit was a duet with Chaka Demus, "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer." It was followed by "Politician," built on a reworking of Larry Marshall's 1969 "Throw Me Corn," then "Chatty Chatty Mouth," "Ballot Box" with Wales, and "Big Belly Man." His debut album, Kill Them With It, appeared in 1987.

The same year brought "Punany," which radio would not play. Bailey recorded a cleaned-up version under the title "Healthy Body," and the riddim kept the name of the original. He went on to work with Papa Biggy, Donovan Germain, and Jah Life, releasing singles through the early 1990s including "No Way No Better Than Yard" and "Original Dela Move." Shabba Ranks's rise over the same period overtook him commercially.

He learned from the roots tones of Ranking Joe and Josey Wales, his chief influences, but his own appeal lay elsewhere. The Rough Guide credits it less to his lyrics than to a likeable, avuncular presence and a sly sense of humor, which he brought to Jammy's most popular riddims and above all to the stage, and it names the exuberant "Kill Them With It" and "Big Belly Man" as high points. His tunes were tried out in the dances before they were released, and by the late 1980s he was one of the biggest names in dancehall.

Last updated October 31, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide calls him the "most immediately successful" of the deejays from Jammy's Super Power sound who became "major names in the digital age." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 301.
  2. "Admiral Bailey," artist biography, iHeart, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.iheart.com/artist/admiral-bailey-18989/; "Admiral Bailey," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Bailey; on Jammy's Super Power sound, Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 301.
  3. "Admiral Bailey," artist biography, iHeart, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.iheart.com/artist/admiral-bailey-18989/.
  4. "Admiral Bailey," iHeart. On "Politician" as a digital update of Larry Marshall's 1969 "Throw Me Corn," see Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 291; on "Big Belly Man," 298.
  5. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 301; "Admiral Bailey," iHeart.
  6. "Admiral Bailey," iHeart; "Admiral Bailey," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Bailey. On the "Punaany" rhythm as an original rather than a re-cut, see Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 291.
  7. "Admiral Bailey," iHeart, which also names Papa Biggy's productions "Neighbourhood Living" and "Newsflash Time." The same entry is reproduced at "Admiral Bailey & Chaka Demus," iHeart, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.iheart.com/artist/admiral-bailey-chaka-demus-18984/.
  8. "Admiral Bailey," iHeart, which says Shabba Ranks's success "somewhat overshadowed" Bailey's later hits.
  9. Howard Campbell, "Admiral Bailey Still in Command," Jamaica Observer, February 22, 2019, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2019/02/22/admiral-bailey-still-in-command.
  10. The Rough Guide says he "made up for limitations in his lyrics by bringing a likeable avuncular presence and a sly sense of humour" to Jammy's rhythms, and was most successful "particularly as a live performer." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 301.
  11. Campbell, "Admiral Bailey Still in Command," which quotes Bailey on his songs making a dance "before dem bus' a road" and calls him "one of the biggest names in dancehall" by the late 1980s.

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