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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Joseph Hill

Artist. Roots

Active
1970s-
Sunrise
January 22, 1949, Linstead, St. Catherine, Jamaica
Sunset
August 19, 2006, Berlin, Germany (liver failure)
Also known as
Culture

Joseph Hill led Culture, the trio he formed with his cousin Albert Walker and Kenneth Dayes, and their first album is remembered for the day much of Kingston stayed home.

Hill was born in Linstead, St. Catherine, into a Christian family and began singing in church at six. He started out as a sound system deejay in the town, and by the late 1960s he was a percussionist with the Soul Defenders, a Linstead group that became a Studio One backing band from about 1971. He played on Freddie McKay's "Picture on the Wall," Dennis Brown's "No Man Is an Island," and the Abyssinians' "Declaration of Rights," and made his first record as a singer, "Behold the Land," for Coxsone Dodd. In the early 1970s he sang with C35 Incorporated and Stepping Stone, both of which also included Glen Washington.

He formed the group in 1976, initially as the African Disciples. Maurice "Blacka" Wellington of the Morwells, then a producer at Joe Gibbs's studio, discovered them. The following year Joe Gibbs and the engineer Errol Thompson, working as the Mighty Two, produced Two Sevens Clash, built around a prophecy attributed to Marcus Garvey that something decisive would occur when the sevens met on July 7, 1977. Belief in it was widespread enough that much of Kingston stayed home that day, and shops and schools closed.

The record earns its reputation independently of the prophecy. Bradley hears the trio's "stark harmonies" and Hill's "sense of the dramatic," and Trouser Press centers it on "Hill's high, wavering voice" and his "distinctive blend of conviction and dread." The Rough Guide is cooler, saying he "never quite touched the heights" of Burning Spear as vocalist or lyricist. "Two Sevens Clash," "I'm Not Ashamed," "Black Starliner Must Come," and "See Dem a Come" run on biblical imagery drawn mainly from Revelation and Daniel, applied directly to Jamaican conditions.

The album reached British punk audiences through Don Letts, who played it during his residency at the Roxy, and through John Peel; it entered the British album chart at the end of the punk year, and John Lydon is credited with helping the group to a deal with Virgin's Front Line. Culture left Gibbs over unpaid royalties and sued him. Other recordings from this period were issued without their consent on the New York label April as Africa Stand Alone (1978). They then made three albums for Sonia Pottinger: Harder Than the Rest (1978), Cumbolo, and International Herb (both 1979). They played the One Love Peace Concert in 1978 and toured Britain with the Revolutionaries. On stage, John Masouri writes, Hill "whirled round the stage like a dervish."

Walker and Dayes left in the early 1980s and Hill kept the name, working with changing lineups for another two decades and twenty-two albums, among them Lion Rock (1982) and Nuff Crisis (1988). P. J. Patterson gave him Jamaica's Independence Award in 2005. He departed in Berlin on the morning of August 19, 2006, at fifty-seven, at the start of a European tour, having performed the night before. Portia Simpson Miller spoke at his funeral in September. His son Kenyatta Hill has led the group since.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide names the trio as Joseph Hill, Albert "Randolph" Walker, and Kenneth Paley. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 161. Wikipedia says Dayes "also used the name 'Kenneth Paley'," the name on Culture's Virgin records, and calls Walker "Ralph." "Culture (band)," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_(band).
  2. Wikipedia, citing the Jamaica Gleaner and Vibe. "Joseph Hill (musician)," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hill_(musician).
  3. Wikipedia says he began as a percussionist with the Soul Defenders in the late 1960s and also worked as a sound-system deejay. "Joseph Hill (musician)." The Rough Guide notes the Soul Defenders' Studio One sides, "Picture On the Wall" among them. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 97.
  4. Wikipedia, citing the Liverpool Daily Post. "Joseph Hill (musician)." The Rough Guide notes that Culture's "Behold" reworks "a tune Hill first cut at Studio One with the Soul Defenders." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 205.
  5. Wikipedia, where the claim is marked "citation needed." "Joseph Hill (musician)."
  6. "Culture (band)."
  7. Katz says that by 1978 Wellington "had been recruited as a producer at Joe Gibbs's studio" and that he "discovered Joseph Hill's group, Culture." David Katz, "Maurice Wellington," Guardian, November 24, 2000, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/nov/24/guardianobituaries1.
  8. Bradley says the song "drew on cabbalistic teachings," in which "the number seven is an omen of apocalypse," rather than naming Garvey. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 352. Bradley calls it "a Mighty Two (Gibbs' & Thompson) production." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 352. Katz says Maurice "Blacka Morwell" Wellington "oversaw their classic debut sets, Two Sevens Clash and Baldhead Bridge." Katz, "Maurice Wellington."
  9. Bradley says that on July 7, 1977, "Jamaica registered record absenteeism from work and school." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 353. Wikipedia says many in Kingston stayed indoors. "Culture (band)."
  10. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 352. Bud Kliment and Amy Wachtel, "Culture," Trouser Press, accessed November 5, 2026, https://trouserpress.com/reviews/culture/. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 161.
  11. The Rough Guide says the Mighty Two's production "ensured the trio was heard by a far wider audience" and singles out "I Am Not Ashamed" and "See Them A Come." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 163. It describes Culture's approach as based on Burning Spear's with Wellington and Hines. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 161.
  12. Wikipedia says the album reached number 60 on the UK albums chart in April 1978, helped by John Peel. "Culture (band)." Bradley lists Two Sevens Clash among the albums that "shifted enormous quantities to white kids" in Britain. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 447.
  13. Wikipedia says the chart success "prompted Virgin Records to sign the group." "Culture (band)."
  14. The Rough Guide says some songs "were originally recorded and then bootlegged on the NY-based April label in 1977"; Hill then re-recorded most of them for Sonia Pottinger. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 205. Discogs dates Africa Stand Alone to 1978 and credits it to Jaime Hatcher and Seymour Cummings, with mixing by Sylvan Morris. "Culture: Africa Stand Alone," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/847494. Bradley refers to "the late Duke Reid" in the late 1970s. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 351.
  15. Wikipedia. "Culture (band)." The Rough Guide reviews Harder Than the Rest and Cumbolo (Virgin) and calls the Pottinger material comparable with their best for Gibbs. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 205, 161.
  16. Wikipedia confirms the One Love Peace Concert. "Joseph Hill (musician)." Bradley cites Culture's "Natty Dread Taking Over" among the songs marking the 1978 truce. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 472.
  17. John Masouri, "Culture: Chanting On," John Masouri, May 10, 2018, https://johnmasouri.com/single-post/2018/05/10/culture-chanting-on.
  18. Wikipedia dates the split to 1981 and says Hill then recorded Lion Rock. "Culture (band)."
  19. Wikipedia, citing the Jamaica Gleaner. "Joseph Hill (musician)."
  20. Wikipedia, citing the Gleaner and the New York Times, says he collapsed after a performance in Berlin on August 19, 2006. "Culture (band)."
  21. "Culture (band)."

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