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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The Gaylads

Band. Ska, rocksteady

Active
1963-1974

The Gaylads were B. B. Seaton, Maurice Roberts, and Winston Delano Stewart, the "golden-voiced" trio whose career, the Rough Guide says, "blossomed in the rocksteady era." Seaton and Stewart began as a schoolboy duo, Winston and Bibbie, recording for Justin Yap's Top Deck label, and became the Gaylads when the nineteen-year-old Roberts joined in 1964.

They recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One until the spring of 1968, where they were also the house act, providing, Seaton said, "the backing vocals at Studio 1 for the artists." "ABC Rocksteady" is a dance instruction song built as a lesson, and its cheerfulness has kept it in circulation, but the group's better work is elsewhere: "Joy in the Morning," "Hard to Confess," "Lady in the Red Dress," and "My Jamaican Girl," all written by Seaton. Their model was the three-part harmony of the Impressions, but Seaton claimed something of their own: "We used unison in harmony. Not everybody was doing that."

They later recorded for Sonia Pottinger, Leslie Kong (the 1970 album Fire and Rain), and Lee Perry before splitting in the early 1970s. Stewart had a solo career, and Seaton continued as a singer, songwriter, and producer, writing "Freedom Street" for Ken Boothe and "Swing and Dine" for the Melodians. Seaton departed in 2024 at seventy-nine.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide calls them "the golden-voiced Gaylads" and gives the members as Harris "BB" Seaton (b. 1944), Winston Delano Stewart (b. 1947), and Maurice Roberts (b. 1945); it says their career "began with ska, but blossomed in the rocksteady era." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 72.
  2. John Masouri, liner notes to the Gaylads, Fire and Rain (Charly Records BLP013), excerpt posted as "Gaylads - Fire And Rain (Charly Records BLP013)," John Masouri, December 6, 2025, https://www.johnmasouri.com/single-post/gaylads-fire-and-rain-charly-records-blp013. Masouri also says the Beverley's album led to their being called "the greatest singing group in the West Indies."
  3. The Rough Guide says the Gaylads left Studio One, along with Ken Boothe, "in the spring of 1968." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 69. Their Studio One hits included "Lady With the Red Dress On," "Love Me With All Your Heart," "You'll Never Leave Him," "You Should Never Do That," and "Red Rose." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 72-73.
  4. Angus Taylor, "BB Seaton: The Gaylads Together Again [Part I]," Reggaeville, July 14, 2012, https://www.reggaeville.com/artist-details/bb-seaton/news/view/interview-bb-seaton-the-gaylads-together-again-part-i/.
  5. The Jamaican single of "ABC Rocksteady" was issued in 1968 on Sonia Pottinger's Gay Feet label, credited to the Gaylads with Lynn Taitt and the Jets. The Gaylads, "ABC Rocksteady," Gay Feet S171, Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1197434.
  6. The Observer says Seaton wrote "Joy in the Morning" and "Hard to Confess," and calls "My Jamaican Girl," which he also wrote, his biggest solo hit. "Gaylads Singer BB Seaton Dead at 79," Jamaica Observer, March 4, 2024, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024/03/04/gaylads-singer-bb-seaton-dead-79/. The Rough Guide places "Hard To Confess" among the hits Pottinger recorded at Treasure Isle and calls it "arguably the Gaylads' finest record"; it lists "Joy In the Morning" on a WIRL compilation and "My Jamaican Girl" as a Gaylads track on a Jaguar album shared with Ken Boothe. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 80, 82, 115.
  7. Taylor, "BB Seaton."
  8. Howard Campbell, "BB Seaton Bows," Jamaica Observer, March 5, 2024, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2024/03/05/bb-seaton-bows, quoting a 2016 Observer interview.
  9. Bradley lists the Gaylads' "I Need Your Loving" among Pottinger's Gay Feet hits and says Leslie Kong cut reggae with them. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 171, 225. The Rough Guide's Trojan anthology entry covers "their rocksteady and reggae hits for Pottinger, Kong, WIRL and Edwards." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 116. "The Same Thing" (1969) was a Lee Perry production on Upsetter. The Gaylads, "The Same Thing," Upsetter US 323, Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/7117706. Wikipedia says Stewart left when he emigrated and that the group recorded for Rupie Edwards in the early 1970s, giving its active years as 1963 to 1973. "The Gaylads," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gaylads.
  10. The Rough Guide says Seaton and Stewart both found "degrees of popularity as solo performers," and lists Stewart's "That's Life" among Pottinger's hits. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 72, 81.
  11. The Observer says Seaton "co-wrote Freedom Street with Ken Boothe and wrote Swing And Dine for The Melodians." "Gaylads Singer BB Seaton Dead at 79." The Rough Guide notes his production work, including the Ebony Sisters, and says he was in charge of the Treasure Isle studio by late 1973. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 98, 107.
  12. The Observer says he died in London on March 4, 2024, at seventy-nine. "Gaylads Singer BB Seaton Dead at 79."

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