Bobby Aitken
Artist. Ska, rocksteady
- Active
- 1961-1970s
- Sunrise
- Cuba
- Also known as
- Carib Beats, Caribbeats
Bobby Aitken was a singer and guitarist, Laurel Aitken's younger brother, who sang on early ska records for Prince Buster and King Edwards and led the Carib Beats, one of the busiest session bands of the rocksteady years; the Rough Guide calls him "one of the top session musicians of the rocksteady period."
Like his brother he was born in Cuba. Prince Buster used him as a singer on the first sessions he cut for his sound system, alongside Derrick Morgan and Eric Morris, and he also sang for King Edwards. With the harmonica player Charley Organaire he formed the Carib Beats, whose "Never Never" was a hit.
In rocksteady the Carib Beats became a session band led from the guitar, recording for J.J. Johnson, Bunny Lee, Joe Gibbs, Ewan McDermott and Clancy Eccles; Aubrey Adams played organ on Aitken's instrumental sets, and Aitken also produced. He later turned to the church, wrote gospel songs and, by one account, taught the young drummer Carlton "Santa" Davis.
Last updated October 21, 2026
Connections
- Laurel Aitken (brother)
- Charley Organaire (bandmate)
- Bunny "Striker" Lee (producer)
- Joe Gibbs (producer)
- Prince Buster (producer)
- Clancy Eccles (producer)
- King Edwards (producer)
- Carlton "Santa" Davis (mentee)
- Aubrey Adams (session work)
Notes
- Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 83. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 58, which calls him "Laurel's kid brother."
- Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 58. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 45-46. On Cuba, "Bobby Aitken," Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Aitken.
- Heather Augustyn, "Charley Organaire: Master of the Harmonica," SkaBook (blog), December 12, 2014, https://skabook.com/2014/12/12/charley-organaire-master-harmonica/.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 83, which reviews a compilation of thirteen previously unreleased productions by him.
- "Bobby Aitken," which says the Carib Beats disbanded in the mid-1960s, that he became a Christian in 1975, and that he wrote "Jesus Name So Sweet" (1977). These details rest on Wikipedia alone.
