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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Sugar Minott

Artist. Reggae, dub

Active
1974-2010
Sunrise
May 25, 1956, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
July 10, 2010, Kingston (heart problems)
Also known as
African Brothers, The African Brothers

Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minott was a singer, producer and sound system operator who did as much as anyone to turn roots reggae into dancehall, and who spent the second half of his career putting other people's records out.

He worked first as a selector on the Sound of Silence Keystone sound and then on his own Gathering of Youth. His singing career began in 1974 with the African Brothers, a Rasta-centered harmony trio in the line of the Abyssinians that he formed with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard; they issued singles on Micron and on their own Ital label, recorded "Mysterious Nature" for Rupie Edwards, and cut "No Cup No Broke" for Studio One in 1974 before breaking up.

Minott stayed on at Studio One as an apprentice, singing and playing guitar and percussion, and there he began writing new songs over riddims Dodd already had on tape. Singers had always done this on stage; doing it in the studio was new, and his first album, Live Loving (1978), is built that way. Those were the original cuts of riddims that would soon carry the dancehall era, and setting fresh lyrics on old riddims became that era's standard practice; the Rough Guide calls Live Loving arguably the first dancehall album. Showcase, Bitter Sweet and Ghetto-ology (1979) followed, the last with Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson on keyboards.

What set him apart as a singer was a pairing that was rare at the time. He came up on the rocksteady singers, taking Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson as his models while he sang on the sound systems near his home, and kept their gift for melody: the Rough Guide singles out the honeyed tone that gave him his nickname, and songs written so that new lines sat perfectly on old Studio One tracks. But he phrased like a man who had grown up behind the controls of a sound. His delivery was rhythmic and melodic at once, at times halfway between singing and deejaying, riding the bass line the way a deejay rides a riddim, and that combination made him equally at home as a roots singer, a lovers rock crooner and a dancehall singjay.

He left Studio One in 1978 to run his own Black Roots label and the Youth Promotion organization, with its sound system playing regularly at Maxfield Park; in the early 1980s it was one of the leading dancehall sounds, strong enough to play opposite Prince Jammy's and Black Scorpio. "Hard Time Pressure" (1980) made him a bigger name in Britain than in Jamaica, and he moved there for a period: "Good Thing Going," his version of the Michael Jackson song "We've Got a Good Thing Going," was picked up by RCA and reached number four on the British chart in March 1981, and singles including "Lovers Rock," "Not for Sale" and "Make It With You" with Carroll Thompson followed. Those long spells in London, the Rough Guide suggests, are what kept him from being an even more dominant figure in Kingston.

Back in Jamaica he cut "Rub a Dub Sound" and "Herbman Hustling" (both 1984) with Sly & Robbie, who produced and played on them; built on Sly Dunbar's electronic drums, their robotic sound foreshadowed digital ragga. He also worked with Niney the Observer at Channel One and with Bullwackie in New York, and kept releasing records through the 1980s. Black Roots and Youth Promotion were the point: Tenor Saw, Junior Reid, Barry Brown, Little John, Nitty Gritty, Yami Bolo, Captain Sinbad, Colourman and Ranking Joe all came through them, and the organization existed to give singers from the same streets he came from a way in that did not depend on knowing a producer.

He was treated for chest pains in 2009 and departed at the University Hospital of the West Indies the day he was admitted, at fifty-four.

Last updated October 31, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide calls his contribution to the dancehall period "threefold: as an extremely individual and popular singer; as an accomplished producer; and as a very successful sound-system operator." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 273.
  2. "Sugar Minott," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Minott.
  3. The Rough Guide: "Sugar Minott's singing career began in 1974 with the African Brothers," with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard, and their own Ital imprint "adapted the Abyssinians' style." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 273-74. Wikipedia dates the group's start to 1969, and the Associated Press obituary to "the late 1960s." "Sugar Minott"; Associated Press, "Reggae Singer Sugar Minott Dies At 54," Billboard, July 12, 2010, https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/reggae-singer-sugar-minott-dies-at-54-1203976/.
  4. The Rough Guide lists "Mysterious Nature" for Rupie Edwards among their singles. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 273. Micron and "No Cup No Broke" are from Wikipedia. "Sugar Minott."
  5. The Rough Guide says Live Loving, his 1978 Studio One debut, "played an important part" in the development of dancehall "by showing how new lyrics could be seamlessly grafted onto old rhythms." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 263-64, 274. Wikipedia says he worked at Studio One as "a singer, guitarist and percussionist." "Sugar Minott."
  6. The Rough Guide says he recorded over "the original cuts of some of the rhythms that were already beginning to provide the basis of the dancehall style," and that the album's "fusion of the new and old was to become the norm of the dancehall era"; it calls Live Loving "arguably the first dancehall album." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 264, 274.
  7. Wikipedia dates Showcase and Ghetto-ology to 1979. "Sugar Minott." The Rough Guide treats Ghetto-ology as a Black Roots production, from "the first flush of his success as an independent artist/producer, 1979-style." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 243, 275. Wikipedia, citing Larkin, credits Steely with keyboards on it. "Steely & Clevie," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steely_%26_Clevie.
  8. David Katz writes that he "honed his vocal skills on nearby sound systems," inspired by Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson. David Katz, "Sugar Minott: A Sweet Voice Falls Silent," Caribbean Beat, no. 106 (November/December 2010), https://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-106/sugar-minott-sweet-voice-falls-silent.
  9. The Rough Guide credits "the honeyed quality of his tone, which gave him the nickname," and "the way in which he made new lyrics perfectly fit the old Brentford Road rhythm tracks." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274.
  10. Eric Doumerc describes his delivery as "rhythmic and melodic at the same time," at times "half-way between singing and deejaying," with his flow "in synch with the bass line," and calls him by turns "a roots singer, a lovers rock crooner or a dancehall singjay." Eric Doumerc, "Sugar Minott," Perfect Sound Forever, March 2011, https://www.furious.com/perfect/sugarminott.html.
  11. The Rough Guide: "In 1978, Sugar Minott left Brentford Road to set up his own labels, Black Roots and Youth Promotion." It names Jah Stitch as the sound's selector and says it "enjoyed enough stature to play opposite the likes of Prince Jammy's and Black Scorpio." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 248, 274. Maxfield Park is from Wikipedia. "Sugar Minott."
  12. The Rough Guide calls "Hard Time Pressure" "his initial UK release" and describes him "increasingly spending time in London, where he had gained a large following"; Bradley says he "moved to London." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 498.
  13. The Official Charts Company lists "Good Thing Going (We've Got a Good Thing Going)" entering the singles chart on March 28, 1981, peaking at No. 4, with twelve weeks on the chart. "Good Thing Going," singles search, Official Charts, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/good%20thing%20going/. RCA is from Wikipedia. "Sugar Minott."
  14. "Sugar Minott."
  15. The Rough Guide: Minott "would perhaps have been a more dominant force in Jamaican music" but for "his popularity in the UK and subsequent absences from the Kingston studios and dancehalls." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274.
  16. The Rough Guide names "Rub A Dub Sound" and "Herbman Hustling," "two popular records by Sugar Minott from 1984," among the Sly & Robbie dancehall productions whose "robotic" sound, with Sly's electronic drums, was "a precursor of the computerized style." It also lists both on Sugar & Spice, the Sly & Robbie album on their Taxi label that was released only later. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 276, 295.
  17. Wikipedia credits "With Lots Of Extra" (1983) to his work with Winston Holness at Channel One. "Sugar Minott." The Rough Guide reviews his Wicked A Go Feel It, cut at Lloyd Barnes's Brooklyn studio. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 428.
  18. The Rough Guide names Barry Brown, Junior Reid, Tenor Saw, Ranking Joe and Captain Sinbad, whose "51 Storm" featured "an uncredited 9-year-old Little John." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274. Wikipedia adds Nitty Gritty, Yami Bolo and Colourman. "Sugar Minott."
  19. The Rough Guide: "Minott showed a very real commitment to helping develop new talent from the West Kingston ghettos he knew so well." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 274.
  20. The Associated Press reported that he died at the University Hospital of the West Indies, and that "two months ago, Minott had canceled performances in Canada after suffering chest pains." Associated Press, "Reggae Singer Sugar Minott Dies At 54," Billboard, July 12, 2010, https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/reggae-singer-sugar-minott-dies-at-54-1203976/. Wikipedia says he had a heart condition from early 2009 and died "after being admitted earlier that day." "Sugar Minott."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map