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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Laurel Aitken

Artist. Ska

Active
1957-2005
Sunrise
April 22, 1927, Havana, Cuba
Sunset
July 17, 2005, Leicester, England
Also known as
The Godfather of Ska, Boss Skinhead

Lorenzo "Laurel" Aitken was among the first Jamaican singers to record commercially, and among the first to have records issued in Britain. Gaz Mayall gave him the title Godfather of Ska in the mid-1980s and it stuck.

He was born in Havana to a Jamaican father and a Cuban mother, and the family settled in Jamaica in 1938, when he was eleven. He won on Vere Johns's Opportunity Hour as a teenager, sang calypso for the Jamaica Tourist Board as passengers came ashore at Kingston Harbour, and became a fixture in Kingston nightclubs. His brother Bobby Aitken was a guitarist and bandleader who appeared on some of his B-sides.

His first records, from about 1957, were mento, calypso and revival sides: "Roll Jordan Roll," "Baba Kill Me Goat," "Judgement Day." The double-sided "Boogie in My Bones" and "Little Sheila" was among the first things Chris Blackwell produced, entered the JBC chart in October 1959, held number one for thirteen weeks, and was among the first Jamaican R&B records released in Britain. He also recorded for Duke Reid, for Leslie Kong at Beverley's, and for Ken Khouri at Federal.

He moved to Brixton in 1960 and cut fifteen singles for Emil Shallit's Blue Beat before returning to Jamaica in 1963, where he recorded with the Skatalites backing him, on sides issued in Britain by Rio, and cut "Sugar Sugar" for Coxsone Dodd in 1965. Back in London he recorded prolifically for Rio, Ska Beat, Doctor Bird, Pama and its Nu Beat subsidiary, and Trojan, and produced other British-based acts including Rico Rodriguez, the Pyramids, the Cimarons and the Rudies. He also cut deejay records under the name Tiger.

"Jesse James," "Fire in My Wire" and "Skinhead Train," all from 1969, were aimed squarely at the young white skinhead audience that had adopted Jamaican music, and made him a figure in that subculture rather than in Jamaica, where his style was by then thought old-fashioned. His "Pussy Price" was later rewritten by the Beat as "Ranking Full Stop."

He settled in Leicester with his wife in 1970 and worked mostly in local nightclubs and restaurants under his given name. The 2 Tone revival brought him back: "Rudi Got Married," released in 1980 on Secret Affair's I-Spy label with the Ruts backing him, gave him his only British chart entry, at number sixty. He toured through the 1980s and 1990s, recorded with the Potato 5 for Gaz Mayall's label, appeared in Absolute Beginners in 1986, and kept performing almost to the end. He departed in Leicester, where his house was later marked with a blue plaque; the cause was a heart attack.

Last updated October 23, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide says Emil Shalit's Melodisc had issued Jamaican music recorded in London as early as 1951, and that his Kalypso label's UK issues included "the first known recordings of future stars Laurel Aitken and Lord Tanamo." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 7-8. Bradley dates the first British releases of Jamaican boogie to 1960, with Aitken's "Boogie in My Bones" on Starlite and "Lonesome Lover" on Melodisc, the latter "probably the first Jamaican single recorded in Britain." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 126. Wikipedia lists a 1958 Kalypso single, "Nebuchanezzar"/"Sweet Chariot." "Laurel Aitken," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_Aitken.
  2. Bear Family's German-language biography says the British label owner Gaz Mayall gave him the title in the mid-1980s. "Laurel Aitken," biography, Bear Family Records, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.bear-family.com/aitken-laurel/.
  3. The Gleaner gives a Jamaican father and a Cuban mother, and says the family moved to Jamaica in 1938 "when Aitken was 11 years old." "The Music Diaries: Laurel Aitken Was 'Godfather of Ska,'" Jamaica Gleaner, June 23, 2016, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20160626/music-diaries-laurel-aitken-was-godfather-ska. The BBC says he moved there "aged 10." Matt Taylor and Kevin Ncube, "'Godfather of Ska' Honoured with Blue Plaque," BBC News, August 27, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8jegly4zqo. Grant Thayer, who toured with him, gives his birth name as Oliver Stephens and his birth date as April 22, 1927; no other source read gives that name. Grant Thayer, "Passings: Laurel Aitken 1927-2005," The Beat (2005), reprinted in Heather Augustyn, "The Lost Photos of Laurel Aitken," SkaBook (blog), September 23, 2018, https://skabook.com/2018/09/23/lost-photos-laurel-aitken/.
  4. The Gleaner says he was "entering and winning on the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour," then sang in Kingston nightclubs and performed "calypsos for the Jamaica Tourist Board as tourists alighted from ships in the Kingston Harbour." "Music Diaries: Laurel Aitken." Bradley lists him among the Opportunity Hour's alumni. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 21.
  5. Bradley calls Bobby Aitken "Laurel's kid brother," and the Rough Guide names him as a leading rocksteady session guitarist who led the Carib Beats. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 58; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 83. Wikipedia notes B-sides credited to Bobby. "Laurel Aitken."
  6. The BBC gives "Roll Jordan Roll" (1957) as his first recording. Taylor and Ncube, "'Godfather of Ska' Honoured." The Gleaner places his calypso, revival, and shuffle recordings between 1958 and 1960, with "Baba Kill Me Goat" backed by the Boogie Cats. "Music Diaries: Laurel Aitken." The Rough Guide lists "Judgement Day" among his gospel-influenced records for Duke Reid. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 23. Augustyn names Aitken among the singers who recorded for Stanley Motta, and Thayer says "Roll Jordan Roll" came out on Motta's Caribou label. Heather Augustyn, "Stanley Motta, Recording Pioneer," SkaBook (blog), January 3, 2014, https://skabook.com/2014/01/03/stanley-motta-recording-pioneer/; Thayer, "Passings: Laurel Aitken."
  7. Bradley says Blackwell's R&B label "snapped up Laurel Aitken as its first Jamaican signing," and the Rough Guide that Blackwell scored with "Boogie In My Bones," a record "that used mostly white Canadian musicians." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 42-43; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 20. The Gleaner says "Boogie in My Bones" was the first Jamaican record to reach number one on the Jamaican charts and that "Little Sheila" "spent some 11 weeks there." "Music Diaries: Laurel Aitken." Starlite's 1960 British issue was leased from Blackwell. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 126.
  8. The Rough Guide says his Jamaican recordings "for Chris Blackwell, Duke Reid, Ken Khouri, Prince Buster and Leslie Kong" made "a big impression on the expatriate community in the UK," and lists "What A Weeping" for Beverley's. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 23, 385.
  9. Bear Family gives Brixton in 1960, fifteen Blue Beat singles, the 1963 return, and the Skatalites. "Laurel Aitken," Bear Family Records. Bradley says Aitken's London-recorded "Boogie Rock" was Blue Beat's first release, in 1960, and that Rio "cut tunes with Aitken." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 127, 129. The Rough Guide says that after the move he "returned sporadically to Kingston for recording sessions" for Blue Beat, Rio, and R&B. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 385.
  10. The Rough Guide says he began "producing himself and others for the Palmer Brothers-owned Crab and NuBeat/New Beat concerns" at the end of the 1960s, naming Winston Groovy and the Classics among the acts he produced. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 385. Bradley names R&B and Ska Beat among the Kings' labels that recorded him. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 129.
  11. The Rough Guide: "Aitken also made a couple of credible deejay records as Tiger." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 385. Bradley lists King Horror separately from Aitken among British-based performers. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 243. Wikipedia, citing de Koningh and Cane-Honeysett's history of Trojan, attributes the King Horror records to Aitken; Discogs says Aitken produced them and that King Horror was presumably the calypsonian Lord Davey, with Aitken perhaps standing in. "Laurel Aitken." "King Horror," artist profile, Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/artist/757386.
  12. The Rough Guide says his audience "widened to take in the white skinheads," naming "Woppi King," "Jesse James," "Haile Selassie," and "Pussy Price Gone Up." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 385. Bradley lists "practically anything recorded in Britain by Laurel Aitken" among skinhead favorites. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 243.
  13. Bear Family gives 1970 for the move to Leicester with his wife. "Laurel Aitken," Bear Family Records. The BBC names his wife as Sandra and the Costa Brava and The Donkey among the venues where he played. Taylor and Ncube, "'Godfather of Ska' Honoured." Wikipedia says he performed as Lorenzo. "Laurel Aitken."
  14. The Official Charts Company lists "Rudi Got Married" by Laurel Aitken and the Unitone, first charting May 17, 1980, with a peak of sixty and three weeks on the chart. "Laurel Aitken and the Unitone," Official Charts, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/18469/laurel-aitken-and-the-unitone/. The I-Spy single also credits the Unitone. "Laurel Aitken and the Unitone, Rudi Got Married," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1102127. An unofficial release of Peel session recordings credits "Laurel Aitken with the Ruts." "Laurel Aitken with the Ruts, The Peel Sessions," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/8156084.
  15. Wikipedia lists Laurel Aitken Meets Floyd Lloyd and the Potato Five (1987, Gaz's). "Laurel Aitken." His "Landlords and Tenants" is on the Absolute Beginners soundtrack. "Absolute Beginners (Film)," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Beginners_(film).
  16. The Gleaner gives his death in Leicester on July 17, 2005, "after suffering a heart attack." "Music Diaries: Laurel Aitken." Wikipedia says a plaque went up at his Leicester home in 2007; in 2025 a second blue plaque was unveiled at The Donkey on Welford Road. "Laurel Aitken."; Taylor and Ncube, "'Godfather of Ska' Honoured."

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