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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Marcia Griffiths

Artist. Rocksteady, reggae

Active
1964-present
Sunrise
November 23, 1949, Kingston, Jamaica
Also recorded as
Bob & Marcia

Marcia Griffiths is a singer whose career runs from the rocksteady era to the present, as a Studio One solo artist, as half of Bob and Marcia, as a member of the I-Threes, and as the voice on "Electric Boogie," the best-selling single ever recorded by a female reggae artist.

She was born Marcia Llyneth Griffiths in Kingston on November 23, 1949. Philip "Boasie" James of the Blues Busters heard her singing in her neighborhood and arranged for her to appear on stage with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires in 1964. Two offers followed the next day, from Ronnie Nasralla and from Coxsone Dodd; she chose Studio One. Her first records there were duets, with Tony Gregory, with Jeff Dixon, with Bob Marley on "Oh My Darling," and with Bob Andy on "Always Together." Andy wrote the solo hits that followed, "Feel Like Jumping," "Truly" and "Melody Life," and the professional relationship became a personal one.

From 1969 to 1974 the two recorded as Bob and Marcia for Harry J, whose records were licensed to Trojan in Britain. "Young, Gifted and Black," a cover of the Nina Simone song, reached the British top five in 1970 after Trojan overdubbed strings in London. "Pied Piper" followed. She also recorded for Lloyd Charmers.

She joined Rita Marley and Judy Mowatt in the I-Threes in 1974 and sang behind Bob Marley and the Wailers until his sunset, on every Island album from Natty Dread onward and on every tour. In December 1976 her manager, Norman St. John Hamilton, kept her in New York over the weekend of the Smile Jamaica concert because he feared for her safety, so she was away when gunmen attacked the Wailers' rehearsal at 56 Hope Road. She kept recording throughout, cutting two albums with Sonia Pottinger and the Revolutionaries, Naturally (1978) and Steppin' (1979), the second carrying "Steppin' Out of Babylon." Writing for NPR, Erin MacLeod singled out Naturally as perhaps the fullest showcase of her gifts: a powerful, smooth alto of pure tone, under assured control, moving easily from spirituality and celebration to love and loss. She also recorded for Joseph "Jojo" Hoo Kim, and sang harmony on Max Romeo's War Ina Babylon (1976) alongside Barry Llewellyn and Earl Morgan of the Heptones.

"Electric Boogie" was written for her by Bunny Wailer, who built it around a rhythm she had brought him from a drum machine bought in Toronto; Wailer had cut his own version in 1976. Her recording was released in December 1982 and did modestly. A 1989 remix reached number fifty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and produced the Electric Slide, a line dance that took on a life of its own well outside reggae. She has since recorded with Donovan Germain, appeared on the Wailers' One World, nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 2021 Grammys, and was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 2023.

Last updated October 31, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Gleaner calls it "the highest-selling single by a female reggae singer of all time." Lennox Aldred, "Marcia Griffiths, Jamaica's Most Famous Songbird," Jamaica Gleaner, February 14, 2021, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/esponsored/20210214/marcia-griffiths-jamaicas-most-famous-songbird. Wikipedia, citing a 2013 Montreal Gazette interview, makes the same claim. "Marcia Griffiths," Wikipedia, accessed October 3, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Griffiths. The Observer says the song "remains her biggest seller." Cecelia Campbell-Livingston, "Truly Outstanding," Jamaica Observer, October 3, 2012, archived, https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Truly-outstanding_12671470. The Rough Guide instead calls "Steppin' Out of Babylon" "her biggest hit." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 200.
  2. The Rough Guide gives "b. 1954, Kingston." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 69, 138. Accounts of her age also vary: the Gleaner calls her "a 9-year-old" at her 1964 debut, while the Observer puts her "at age 13" then and 61 in 2012. "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best," Jamaica Gleaner, January 26, 2014, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140126/ent/ent9.html; Campbell-Livingston, "Truly Outstanding." Wikipedia, citing AllMusic, gives November 23, 1949. "Marcia Griffiths."
  3. The debut was an Easter morning concert at the Carib Theatre; the rival offers came from Ronnie Nasralla, Byron Lee's manager, and Coxsone Dodd. "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best." Nasralla, interviewed by Augustyn, remembered it differently: Boasie James brought her to him, she sang for him "from behind the door," and he talked Byron Lee into letting her sing one song, "Born to Lose," on the Dragonaires' Christmas morning show; "I started Marcia Griffiths," he said: Heather Augustyn, "Ronnie Nasralla Still Celebrating Ska!," SkaBook (blog), July 26, 2015, https://skabook.com/2015/07/26/ronnie-nasralla-still-celebrating-ska/.
  4. "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best." The Gleaner adds that her first recording at Studio One, "Wall of Love," was never released. The Rough Guide notes "Oh My Darling" with Marley. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 39.
  5. The Rough Guide lists "Feel Like Jumping," "Truly," "Tell Me Now," "Melody Life" and "Mark My Word" as Andy compositions; Bradley dates "Feel Like Jumping" to 1968, for Coxsone. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 201. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 197. On the relationship: "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best."
  6. The Rough Guide dates the duets to 1969, and the Gleaner says she began recording for Harry Johnson in 1969. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 78. "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best." Bradley credits Harry J with pairing the two. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 226.
  7. Bradley: "Harry J leased the same tune to both Pama and Trojan, Pama put it out as Harry supplied it and Trojan added a full orchestra - the latter was a Top 5 hit." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 243-44. It peaked at number 5. "Bob and Marcia," artist page, Official Charts, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/13977/bob-and-marcia/.
  8. Bradley says Andy himself produced "Pied Piper"; the Rough Guide counts both singles among Harry J's international successes. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 226. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 113. It peaked at number 11 in 1971. "Bob and Marcia," Official Charts.
  9. The Gleaner names the album Sweet Bitter Love. "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best."
  10. The Rough Guide: "The I-Threes took the place of Bunny and Peter's harmonies on Natty Dread," in 1974. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 139. Griffiths has said that for Exodus and Kaya she and Rita Marley did most of the harmonies because Mowatt could not come to London. Dani Mallick, "Interview: Marcia Griffiths Reflects on 60 Years in Music, Working with Bob Marley, and More," DancehallMag, July 16, 2023, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2023/07/15/features/interviews/interview-marcia-griffiths-reflects-on-60-years-in-music-working-with-bob-marley-and-more.html.
  11. Hamilton told her she had two shows in New York that weekend: "I explained to her there was no show arranged and I wanted her out of Jamaica because I was afraid for her safety." Judy Mowatt recalls that Griffiths "didn't feel too good about that concert" and "left the island": Roger Steffens, "The Night Bob Marley Got Shot," Rolling Stone (Australia), July 10, 2017, https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-night-bob-marley-got-shot-1877, an excerpt from Roger Steffens, So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley (New York: W. W. Norton, 2017).
  12. The Rough Guide credits the two albums with establishing her "as the preeminent woman singer of the period" and lists "Dreamland," "Peaceful Woman" and "Hurting Inside" among her hits. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 200. Pottinger recalled proposing Naturally as solo versions of the Bob and Marcia hits. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 81.
  13. Erin MacLeod, "Shocking Omissions: Marcia Griffiths' 'Naturally,'" NPR, November 15, 2017, republished by Public Radio Tulsa, https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/music/2017-11-15/shocking-omissions-marcia-griffiths-naturally.
  14. The Observer says she recorded for Channel One, re-recording some of her Studio One songs. Campbell-Livingston, "Truly Outstanding." The sleeve credits list Cynthia Schloss as the other female harmony singer. "Max Romeo & The Upsetters: War Ina Babylon," Discogs, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3805074.
  15. Griffiths's account: the rhythm box was bought in Canada with her I-Threes pay, and Bunny Wailer wrote and produced the song from it. Claudia Gardner, "Marcia Griffiths Sets Record Straight About Original Version of 'Electric Boogie' Hit," DancehallMag, February 26, 2021, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2021/02/26/news/marcia-griffiths-sets-record-straight-about-original-version-of-electric-boogie-hit.html. She says she was the original singer and that Wailer recorded his own version afterward, when the song took off in 1989; "I wish people would let go of this thing of me re-recording Bunny's song." Gardner, "Marcia Griffiths Sets Record Straight." Mallick, "Interview: Marcia Griffiths Reflects."
  16. Wikipedia dates the release to December 1982. "Electric Boogie," Wikipedia, accessed October 3, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Boogie. The Gleaner calls it "her 1982 No. 1 hit," and Wikipedia says it topped the Jamaican charts early in 1983. "Marcia Griffiths Enjoys 50 of the Best." "Marcia Griffiths."
  17. Wikipedia, citing Joel Whitburn, dates the Hot 100 peak of number 51 to 1990. "Electric Boogie." Griffiths says Chris Blackwell suggested the remix, and that the dance was created in Washington. Gardner, "Marcia Griffiths Sets Record Straight."
  18. The Rough Guide notes that she revived "Steppin' Out of Babylon" for Germain in 1995 and recorded Penthouse combinations with Cutty Ranks. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 200, 313. "Marcia Griffiths," artist page, Grammy.com, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.grammy.com/artists/marcia-griffiths/300376/. "Marcia Griffiths, Audley Shaw among Five to Receive Order of Jamaica," Jamaica Gleaner, August 6, 2023, http://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20230806/marcia-griffiths-audley-shaw-among-five-receive-order-jamaica.

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