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 Gladiators

Band. Reggae

Active
1968-present

The Gladiators were led for five decades by Albert Griffiths (1946-2020), who sang lead, played guitar, and wrote nearly all the songs.

Griffiths was born in St. Elizabeth, came to Kingston in his late teens, and found work as a session guitarist at Studio One. His first recorded success was "You Are the Girl," the B-side of the Ethiopians' "Train to Skaville," credited to Al and the Ethiopians. He formed the Gladiators in 1968 with his childhood friends Donald Webber and Errol Grandison. Webber fell ill in 1969 and was replaced by Clinton Fearon; Grandison left in 1973 and was replaced by Dallimore Sutherland.

"Hello Carol" (1969), recorded for Coxsone Dodd, went to number one in Jamaica, and the group spent the first half of the 1970s at Studio One producing the records their reputation rests on: "Bongo Red," "Roots Natty Roots Natty Congo," "Jah Jah Go Before Us," and "Mr. Baldwin." They also recorded for Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Virgin signed them in 1976, and they were among the first Jamaican acts on its Front Line reggae label when it launched; Trenchtown Mix Up (1976), Proverbial Reggae (1978), and Naturality (1979) took them to European and North American audiences. They toured relentlessly through the 1980s and 1990s and recorded for Nighthawk and Heartbeat in the United States.

The Rough Guide counts them among "Jamaica's finest vocal harmony groups" and hears "traditional Jamaican rural tones" in their singing; Bradley calls it "straight-down-the-line Jamaican three-part harmonies." Griffiths took most of the leads in a style a Small Axe reviewer likens to Marley's, and Donal Dineen wrote of "the sweetness of the voices alone." In the 1990s, Howard Campbell says, they became "one of the best touring bands in reggae." Fearon left in 1987 for a solo career in Seattle.

Griffiths was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and stopped touring in 2005. He departed at his home in Aberdeen, St. Elizabeth, in December 2020, two weeks before his seventy-fifth birthday. His sons Anthony and Al have continued the group.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Bradley calls Griffiths "a strong Rasta songwriter, but one who told stories in a more regular verse/chorus manner." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 348. Doumerc quotes the producer Tony Robinson asking "Who really writes for The Gladiators?" and Griffiths identifying himself as the main songwriter. Eric Doumerc, "The Gladiators: Roots Reggae Endures," Perfect Sound Forever, June 2020, https://www.furious.com/perfect/gladiators.html.
  2. DancehallMag says he moved to Kingston at fourteen, in 1960, and took a job as a mason after unsuccessful auditions; it quotes the group's former manager calling him "a brilliant rhythm guitarist who played on many hit songs at Studio One." Claude Mills, "Albert Griffiths, Singer of 'Hello Carol' Hit, Is Dead at 74," DancehallMag, December 18, 2020, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2020/12/18/news/albert-griffiths-singer-of-hello-carol-hit-is-dead-at-74.html. Doumerc also says he arrived in 1960 and worked as a mason, and that the Gladiators later became session musicians at Studio One. Doumerc, "The Gladiators."
  3. Doumerc and DancehallMag both say Griffiths and his fellow mason Leonard Dillon persuaded their employer, Leebert Robinson, to pay for the session that produced "You Are the Girl." Doumerc, "The Gladiators." Mills, "Albert Griffiths." The Jamaican WIRL single (WL.152) is credited to the Ethiopians with the Supersonics. The Ethiopians, "Train to Skaville" / "You Are the Girl," WIRL WL.152, Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/4510657.
  4. Bradley gives the name as Donald Webber. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 348. Doumerc and DancehallMag call him David Webber, and DancehallMag dates the group's formation to 1968. Doumerc, "The Gladiators." Mills, "Albert Griffiths." The Rough Guide names "Train Is Coming Back," produced by "the more obscure Leeward Robinson," as "one of the first records" from the group. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 82.
  5. The Rough Guide gives the Virgin-era trio as Albert Griffiths, Clinton Fearon, and Dallimore Sutherland. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 151. DancehallMag gives the same spelling and says Webber fell ill in 1969 and Grandison left in 1973 "for family commitments." Mills, "Albert Griffiths." Bradley, however, lists the group as Griffiths, Fearon, and Webber. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 348.
  6. DancehallMag says "Hello Carol" "topped the Jamaican music charts" and dates it to 1968; Doumerc says it was recorded at Studio One in December 1968. Mills, "Albert Griffiths." Doumerc, "The Gladiators."
  7. Bradley says that after knocking around Studio One and Treasure Isle in the late 1960s, the group worked with Clive Chin and Lee Perry in 1970 and 1971, and that Dodd "took them back on in 1973" as a hands-on producer; he names "Bongo Red," "A Prayer to Thee," "Tribulation," "Jah Jah Go before Us," and "Roots Natty." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 348-49. The Rough Guide adds "Mr Baldwin" among their Studio One sides. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 151-52.
  8. Bradley dates their work with Perry to 1970-71. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 348.
  9. Bradley says the Virgin team that flew to Jamaica with "a suitcase full of American dollars" came back with a roster including the Gladiators, and that the Front Line label was launched afterward to clear surplus stock left over from the collapse of Virgin's Nigerian market. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 455. The Rough Guide lists the Gladiators among the Virgin Front Line acts whose albums "sold exceptionally well." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 145.
  10. The Rough Guide calls Trenchtown Mix-Up an "excellent Prince Tony-produced set that updated their rural style." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 151. Doumerc dates Proverbial Reggae to 1978 and Naturality to 1979. Doumerc, "The Gladiators."
  11. Doumerc says the group made three albums for Nighthawk between 1982 and 1992. Doumerc, "The Gladiators." DancehallMag mentions a run of releases on Heartbeat and dates their first US tour to 1983. Mills, "Albert Griffiths."
  12. The Rough Guide notes the mento-rooted "country" quality of their style and the "traditional Jamaican rural tones" of their singing. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 9, 151.
  13. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 348.
  14. "Gladiators: Country Living: Heartbeat," Small Axe, accessed November 5, 2026, https://sites.google.com/view/smallaxereggae/gladiators.
  15. Donal Dineen, "Awesome Music from the Archives: This Week, the Gladiators," Irish Times, November 20, 2014, https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/awesome-music-from-the-archives-this-week-the-gladiators-1.2009125.
  16. Howard Campbell, "Farewell Albert Griffiths of the Gladiators," Reggae Global Radio, December 17, 2020, https://reggaeglobalradio.com/rgr-times-with-howard-campbell/blog/farewell-albert-griffiths-of-the-gladiators.
  17. Fearon said he "spent 18 years with Gladiators"; the interviewer dates his arrival in Seattle to 1987, "after the split with Gladiators." Catherine Fearon, "Interview: Clinton Fearon Part 2," United Reggae, August 9, 2010, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n437/080910/interview-clinton-fearon-part-2.
  18. DancehallMag says he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease more than ten years before his death and had stopped touring since. Mills, "Albert Griffiths." Doumerc says he announced his retirement in 2004. Doumerc, "The Gladiators."
  19. DancehallMag says he died on Tuesday evening (December 15, 2020) in Aberdeen, St. Elizabeth, at seventy-four, and that his son Anthony confirmed the death. Mills, "Albert Griffiths." Doumerc names his son Al as the successor to the group. Doumerc, "The Gladiators."

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