Doreen Shaffer
Artist. Ska, rocksteady, reggae
- Active
- 1962-2020
- Sunrise
- early 1940s, Kingston, Jamaica
- Also known as
- Queen of Ska, Monica Johnson, Doreen Schaffer, Doreen Schaeffer, Jackie and Doreen
Doreen Shaffer is the singer who stood in front of the Skatalites from their founding in 1964 and again from their re-formation in 1992, one of the women who, in her words, made a career in "a man's world."
Born Monica Johnson in Kingston, she sang at school, modeled herself on Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan, and became a singer against the wishes of her mother, who wanted her to be a secretary. She began at Studio One, singing duets with the Barbadian singer Jackie Opel, among them "Welcome You Back Home"; Jackie and Doreen were among the best-liked boy-girl acts of the ska years. With Opel and Lord Tanamo she was one of the Skatalites' regular singers. Of being the only woman in the band she said, "The respect is there and over the years we've gotten along fine."
After the band broke up in 1965 she recorded solo and sang in the Bahamas in the later 1960s; for Coxsone Dodd she had hits in the 1970s with "Sugar Sugar" and "Try a Little Smile," and Bunny Lee's recordings of her were collected as First Lady of Reggae (1970). She rejoined the Skatalites in 1992 and sang with them until 2020, and after Lester Sterling's sunset in 2023 she was the last surviving founding member.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Tommy McCook (bandmate)
- The Skatalites (band)
- Roland Alphonso (bandmate)
- Lester Sterling (bandmate)
- Jackie Opel (duo partner)
- Lord Tanamo (bandmate)
- Coxsone Dodd (producer)
- Bunny "Striker" Lee (producer)
- Studio One (label)
Notes
- Howard Campbell, "Doreen Shaffer: Queen of Ska," Jamaica Observer, February 12, 2018, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2018/02/12/doreen-shaffer-queen-of-ska/.
- "Doreen Shaffer," Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doreen_Shaffer. Campbell, "Queen of Ska."
- Campbell, "Queen of Ska." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 35, lists "Jackie (Opel) & Doreen (Schaffer)" among the best-received boy-girl duos.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 42. Jah Rebel, "Doreen Shaffer: I Was Never What You Would Call a Shy Person," Reggae.be, August 12, 2010, https://www.reggae.be/nl/magazine/archive/2010-08-12-doreen-shaffer-i-was-never-what-you-would-call-a-s/.
- Campbell, "Queen of Ska." On the Bunny Lee collection: "Doreen Shaffer." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 73, calls "Try A Little Smile" "poignant."
- "Doreen Shaffer." Campbell, "Queen of Ska."
