World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Roy Shirley

Artist. Ska, rocksteady

Active
1965-2008
Sunrise
Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
July 2008, Thamesmead, London, England

Roy Shirley, born Ainsworth Roy Rushton Shirley and known as King Roy Shirley and the High Priest, was the singer of "Hold Them," one of the records most often named as the first rocksteady side.

He was born on North Street in Kingston and grew up in Trench Town, where he attended the Boys Town school and sang in the choir of his mother's revivalist church. He came up through the talent contests, where he befriended Jimmy Cliff; a second place on Vere Johns's show brought him to Edward Seaga and Byron Lee, who put him on the shows they promoted. His first sessions, for Simeon L. Smith, were never released, and Leslie Kong issued his debut, "Oh Shirley," arranged with Cliff, which was a hit in 1965. He then formed the Leaders with Ken Boothe, Joe White, and Chuck Josephs, whose records for Federal went nowhere, and joined Slim Smith and Franklyn White in the first lineup of the Uniques, recording for Sir J.J. and for Ken Lack's Caltone.

"Hold Them" came from the first session Joe Gibbs financed, and was Gibbs's first hit. Shirley said he took the beat from a Salvation Army band, found the song would not sit on a ska rhythm, and slowed it down. He first tried it with Slim Smith and Ken Boothe, who could not shake the ska phrasing, and it was Gladstone Anderson who told Gibbs to let Shirley sing it alone. It was a hit across Jamaica. The following year Boothe issued "Feel Good" for Dodd, close enough to "Hold Them" for the Rough Guide to call it a version of it. Further singles for Gibbs, among them "Dance Arena," "The World Needs Love," and "Music Is the Key," did less well.

He then gave Bunny Lee his first hit, voicing "Music Field" and "Get on the Ball" at Lee's first session. In late 1968 he set up his own Public label and produced himself ("Prophecy Fulfilling," "Flying Reggae," "A Sugar," "On Board"), backed by the Soul Syndicate and by Peter Tosh and the Barrett brothers of the Wailers. His stage act, modeled on James Brown, with a silver cape and a very high collar, was the most comic in the music, by the Jamaica Observer's account; his vocal model was Solomon Burke. The Gleaner calls him perhaps the most eccentric performer in Jamaican music, kneeling, wailing, and sometimes crying on stage.

In 1972 he played a week at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and toured Britain with U-Roy and Max Romeo, and he settled in Britain in 1973. In 1976 he set up the All Stars Artistic Federated Union to help other artists avoid the traps of the business, and released his first album, The Winner. Later records include "Love Your Mother" for Raymond Morrison's Hawk label (1979), Good News (1981) for GG's, and The Return of the High Priest (1982). He played Reggae Sunsplash in 1982, opened a record shop in Dalston, and in his last years set up the British Universal Talent Development Association to support underprivileged young performers.

His last show was at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in June 2008, and he departed at his home in Thamesmead, London, the following month. A memorial concert in London that August brought out Derrick Morgan, Dennis Alcapone, B. B. Seaton, and Michael Prophet. His body was returned to Jamaica with the government's help and buried there, and Ken Boothe and Dwight Pinkney were among the musicians at the service.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Guardian gives "born July 18 1944." David Katz, "Roy Shirley," Guardian, August 28, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/aug/28/worldmusic. The Rough Guide gives "b. 1948, Kingston." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 76.
  2. Katz calls "Hold Them" "widely credited as the first 'rock steady' song." Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Rough Guide calls it "ground-breaking" and "historically the most significant track" of a rocksteady collection. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 56, 76. Bradley notes that a queue of players claimed to have cut "the first rocksteady tune." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 159.
  3. The Gleaner gives his birthplace as 84 North Street and says he attended Boys' Town School and sang in the church choir. "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game," Jamaica Gleaner, September 23, 2012, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120923/ent/ent4.html. Katz says he was raised by his mother and stepfather "in a community centred on a revivalist church in Trench Town." Katz, "Roy Shirley."
  4. On Jimmy Cliff, who "introduced him on stage during one of his first performances," Katz, "Roy Shirley." On the Vere Johns show, Seaga, and Byron Lee, "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game."
  5. Katz says his recordings for Simeon L. Smith "remain unreleased" and that his debut, "the ballad Shirley (1965) was a local ska hit." Katz, "Roy Shirley." On "Oh Shirley" and Cliff, "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Shirley, citing David Katz's Solid Foundation. The Gleaner instead names his first recording as "Shirley With The Diamond Ring," cut for Kong's Beverley's label in 1964. "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game."
  6. Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Rough Guide notes two Uniques sides on which "Roy shares the vocal with Keith 'Slim' Smith." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 77. Ken Boothe is described as his "former partner in The Leaders" in Mel Cooke, "Roy Shirley Sent Off as a True Original," Jamaica Gleaner, September 17, 2008, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080917/ent/ent3.html.
  7. Katz says "Hold Them" came from Shirley and Gibbs's first recording session, and dates their meeting to 1967. Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Rough Guide calls it Gibbs's "debut as a producer" and dates the hit to mid-1966, on Amalgamated. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 56, 77; see also Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 171. The Gleaner calls it "a massive No.1 hit in Jamaica in 1967." "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game."
  8. Shirley recalled: "I heard a Salvation Army Band strumming up a beat at Orange and North Street corner and, same time, the drop beat of the tune I wanted come into my head." "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game." On the ska rhythm, "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia.
  9. "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia, citing Katz, Solid Foundation.
  10. The Rough Guide dates "Feel Good" to 1967, the year after "Hold Them," and calls it "a version of Roy Shirley's 'Hold Them', retitled by Coxsone." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 69, 77. Boothe sang at Shirley's memorial service in 2008. Cooke, "Roy Shirley Sent Off."
  11. On the later Gibbs singles, "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia.
  12. Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Gleaner says "Music Field" used only four musicians, Lynn Taitt, Gladstone Anderson, Bryan Atkinson, and Joe Isaacs. "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game." The Rough Guide says he recorded "over twenty sides for Bunny Lee," and notes that Lee had worked with Ken Lack's Caltone label from 1966. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 76-77.
  13. Katz dates the Public label to late 1968 and lists "A Sugar" among its self-productions. Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Rough Guide mentions releases "on Roy's label Public." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 77. Katz names the Soul Syndicate and, "from the Wailers, Peter Tosh and the Barrett Brothers" as the backing. Wikipedia, citing Colin Larkin, instead credits "A Sugar" to Randy's in 1971. "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia.
  14. Katz describes "a long silver cape with an improbably high collar" and says he was compared to James Brown and Solomon Burke. Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Observer phrase, "perhaps the most comedic performer to evolve out of Jamaican popular music," is quoted from Karyl Walker, "Roy Shirley Still Going Strong after 40 Years," Jamaica Observer, October 22, 2004, in "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia. The Gleaner calls him "the most comedic act to emerge from Jamaica's popular music." "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game."
  15. Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Gleaner says he made the UK his home "by the mid '70s." "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game." Katz adds that he first performed in New York in 1971, had "a week-long engagement at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem in 1972," and that during his absence the Wailers took over his downtown Kingston record shop. Katz, "Roy Shirley."
  16. Wikipedia, citing Larkin and Dave Thompson, dates the union and the album to 1976. "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia. The Gleaner dates "The UK All Stars Artistic Federation" to 1976. "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game." "Roy Shirley - The Winner," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/4291262.
  17. Discogs dates the Hawk single "Love Your Mother" to 1975; Wikipedia, citing Music Week, places it in 1979. "Roy Shirley - Love Your Mother," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/9037487; "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia. "Good News" is undated on its GG's label. "Roy Shirley - Good News," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/1131820; "Roy Shirley - The Return of the High Priest," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3098413.
  18. On Sunsplash in 1982 and the British Universal Talent Development Association, Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Gleaner dates the association, with the All Stars federation, to 1976. "Roy Shirley, the Man Who Changed the Game." The Dalston shop is reported, citing The Times, in "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia. Katz mentions only a Kingston shop, which the Wailers took over during his absence.
  19. Katz says his last show was at the Sierra Nevada festival in June, that his body "was found at his home on July 17," and that he "had not been obtainable by telephone after July 4." Katz, "Roy Shirley." The Gleaner gives July 17 as the date of death. Cooke, "Roy Shirley Sent Off." Katz gives his age as 63 and the Gleaner as 64; Barrow and Dalton give his birth year as 1948 (Rough Guide to Reggae, 76). "Roy Shirley passes away," Jamaica Gleaner, July 21, 2008, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080721/ent/ent4.html.
  20. The concert, on August 30, is reported in "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia.
  21. The Gleaner says his body "was brought home with the Government's assistance," and reports the service at Oakton Park, Half-Way Tree, with Ken Boothe and Dwight Pinkney among the performers. Cooke, "Roy Shirley Sent Off." The burial is reported in "Roy Shirley," Wikipedia.

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map