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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Clinton Fearon

Artist. Reggae

Active
1969-present
Sunrise
January 13, 1951, St. Andrew, Jamaica

Clinton Fearon played bass and sang harmony with the Gladiators through their best years and has since spent nearly four decades as a solo artist in the United States.

He joined the Gladiators in 1969, shortly after Albert Griffiths formed the group, and the Rough Guide says the group's dub versions show his "excellent bass playing as the foundation of the group." He thought of the instrument in terms of restraint: "the space in between tells as much of a story as the space that you use up." He co-wrote a number of the group's songs and sang on Trenchtown Mix Up, Proverbial Reggae, and Naturality, the Virgin Front Line albums that carried them internationally. He also took sessions elsewhere, including at Studio One, and spent about six months playing at Lee Perry's studio, on albums for Bunny Rugs and Yabby You among others; he wrote many bass lines there without credit. "Scratch rarely had the proper credits for musicians and I was just happy to play."

He left the Gladiators in 1987 and settled in Seattle, where he formed the Boogie Brown Band. The solo catalog runs to a dozen or more albums, including Disturb the Devil (1995), Mi Deh Yah (2001), Vision (2005), and Mi an' Mi Guitar (2005), the last of which is solo acoustic.

Perry told him he sounded like Brent Dowe of the Melodians. Irie magazine speaks of "great melodies and soulful delivery" and "the sweet style that has become his signature." His own rule for protest lyrics is plain: "You bring up the subject but you don't throw hate into it because hate begets hate." He is a Rastafarian and continues to tour in his seventies.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. United Reggae, in an interview conducted by his wife, Catherine Fearon, dates his membership of the Gladiators from 1969 to 1987 and says he then settled in Seattle. Catherine Fearon, "Interview: Clinton Fearon Part 1: The Gladiator Is Here," United Reggae, August 2, 2010, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n429/080210/interview-clinton-fearon-part-1-the-gladiator-is-here.
  2. Angus Taylor, "Interview: Clinton Fearon (2016, Part 2)," United Reggae, December 18, 2016, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n2152/121816/interview-clinton-fearon-2016-part-2. The Rough Guide says the group's dub versions throw "the spotlight on Clinton Fearon's excellent bass playing as the foundation of the group." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 211. Bradley names the trio of the late 1960s as Albert Griffiths, Clinton Fearon, and Donald Webber, singing backing vocals at Studio One and Treasure Isle. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 348. Wikipedia says he joined in 1969 as a singer, replacing David Webber, and took up the bass later. "Clinton Fearon," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Fearon.
  3. The Rough Guide says the Gladiators' Virgin Front Line albums "sold exceptionally well" and describes Trenchtown Mix Up as a Prince Tony production made "with help from Sly Dunbar and Lloyd Parks." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 145, 151. United Reggae lists "Chatty Chatty Mouth," "Richman Poorman," "On The Other Side," and "Let Jah Be Praised" among the Gladiators songs he wrote and sang. C. Fearon, "Interview, Part 1."
  4. "Respect: Clinton Fearon," Irie Magazine, accessed November 5, 2026, https://iriemag.com/respect-clinton-fearon; Taylor, "Interview: Clinton Fearon." Fearon recalled first visiting Studio One at about eighteen and recording his first song with the group there, "Jah Almighty"; he adds, "I get no money from Coxsone." Catherine Fearon, "Interview: Clinton Fearon Part 2," United Reggae, August 9, 2010, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n437/080910/interview-clinton-fearon-part-2. The Rough Guide notes his bass on Yabby You's late-1970s sessions and on a Nighthawk all-star session. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 167, 212. Wikipedia lists session work for Dodd, Lee Perry, Joe Higgs, Yabby You, Joseph Hookim, and Prince Tony Robinson. "Clinton Fearon," Wikipedia.
  5. He told United Reggae that after a US tour he and other Gladiators stayed on and first formed a band called the Defenders. C. Fearon, "Interview, Part 1." Wikipedia dates the Defenders to 1989-92 and the Boogie Brown Band to 1994. "Clinton Fearon," Wikipedia.
  6. Wikipedia dates Disturb the Devil to 1994, Vision to 2006, and Mi Deh Yah to 2010; United Reggae presented Mi Deh Yah as his new, eighth album in 2010. "Clinton Fearon," Wikipedia. C. Fearon, "Interview, Part 1." Fearon called Mi an' Mi Guitar "a very steady album in terms of selling." C. Fearon, "Interview, Part 2."
  7. Taylor, "Interview: Clinton Fearon."
  8. "Respect: Clinton Fearon," Irie Magazine, accessed November 5, 2026, https://iriemag.com/respect-clinton-fearon; Taylor, "Interview: Clinton Fearon."

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