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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The Techniques

Band. Rocksteady

Active
1962-1974

The Techniques were a vocal group formed in 1962 by Winston Riley, then still at school, with Keith "Slim" Smith, Franklyn White and Frederick Waite. They rehearsed and performed at Chocomo Lawn, the youth club Edward Seaga had set up in west Kingston, and it was there that scouts from Columbia Records heard them; their first record, "No One," was issued in Britain in 1963 and not in Jamaica. As members of the Victors Youth Band they were among the winners of the 1964 Festival competition.

Their Jamaican career began in 1965, when Stranger Cole introduced them to Duke Reid. "Don't Leave Me," "When You Are Wrong" and "Little Did You Know" came out on Reid's Duke and Treasure Isle labels, backed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics.

Smith left in 1966 for a solo career at Studio One and afterward formed the Uniques with White, and Pat Kelly replaced him. The rocksteady sides that followed are what the group is remembered for: "You Don't Care," "Queen Majesty," adapted from the Impressions' "Minstrel and Queen," "I Wish It Would Rain," "It's You I Love" and Riley's own "Love Is Not a Gamble." One account calls the group "almost unequalled in the area of vocal harmony," with a "falsetto sound," and credits Smith's "crystalline lead vocal delivery" for the early style.

Riley left the group in 1968 to produce, taking the name with him for his Techniques label. Later lineups took in Lloyd Parks, Bruce Ruffin, Dave Barker, Junior Menz, Jackie Parris and Jimmy Riley, and in 1982 the group was briefly revived with Tyrone Evans of the Paragons singing lead on a re-recorded "Love Is Not a Gamble."

What came out of the group is as consequential as what it recorded. Kelly and Ruffin had solo careers, Parks became a bandleader and session bassist, Barker became half of Dave and Ansel Collins, and Waite moved to England and managed Musical Youth, the band his sons were in, whose "Pass the Dutchie" runs back to Sound Dimension's "Full Up." Winston Riley became one of the most consequential producers in the music: "Double Barrel," the "Stalag" riddim, General Echo, Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" and Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm" are all his. He was shot in the head at his Kingston home on November 1, 2011, and departed on January 19, 2012, aged sixty-eight.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Wikipedia says the group was formed by Riley in 1962 "while still at school." "The Techniques," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Techniques. The Rough Guide calls Riley "the founder of the Techniques." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 65.
  2. Wikipedia says Columbia scouts heard them at Chocomo Lawn and that "No One" was "released only in the United Kingdom in 1963." "The Techniques." The song appears, with "Remember I Told You," on the US compilation The Real Jamaica Ska. "Various - The Real Jamaica Ska," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/7930766.
  3. On the Victors Youth Band, "Slim Smith's Profile," ReggaeCollector.com, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.reggaecollector.com/en/feature/artist.php?artist_id=726.
  4. Wikipedia credits the introduction to Cole. "The Techniques." Bradley names the Techniques among the groups with which Reid "produced some of the best ska ever made." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 98.
  5. The Rough Guide reproduces a Treasure Isle label for "Queen Majesty," credited to the Techniques with Tommy McCook and the Supersonics. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 53.
  6. The Rough Guide places "Slim Smith & the Techniques' 'Telling Lies'" among Reid's productions of 1966, and calls Pat Kelly "another former lead singer from the Techniques." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 64, 77. Wikipedia gives 1966 for Smith's departure and says he later formed the Uniques with White. "The Techniques."
  7. The Rough Guide says "Queen Majesty" was "modelled on the Impressions' 'Minstrel & Queen'" and "You Don't Care" was "based on 'You'll Want Me Back,' a US hit for Major Lance." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 62. Bradley lists "I'm in the Mood for Love," "Queen Majesty" and "You Don't Care" among the Bond Street hits. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 172.
  8. The Rough Guide lists "Love Is A Gamble" among Treasure Isle's rocksteady sides. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 65. Wikipedia dates the string of hits to 1967 and 1968. "The Techniques."
  9. "The Legendary Techniques: They Made a Big Difference to Jamaican Music," reposted by Clinton Lindsay, October 21, 2012, https://clintonlindsay.com/2012/10/21/the-legendary-techniques-they-made-a-big-difference-to-jamaican-music.
  10. The Rough Guide says Riley "used the group's name for the label he started in 1968." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 116. Wikipedia says instead that the group left Treasure Isle in 1968 and that Riley stayed "the only constant member" of its changing lineups. "The Techniques."
  11. The Rough Guide names Slim Smith, Pat Kelly, Bruce Ruffin, Jackie Paris and Lloyd Parks as members of "the amazing Techniques" who went on to solo careers; Wikipedia adds Dave Barker. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 65; "The Techniques." Wikipedia, citing David Katz, says Jimmy Riley hung around the Techniques hoping to join but was not taken in. "Jimmy Riley," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Riley. Black names "new members Junior Menz, Bruce Ruffin," and Riley himself, and Menz as lead singer until he migrated. Roy Black, "Music Diaries: Winston Riley's Contribution to J'can Music Transcended," Jamaica Gleaner, October 26, 2017, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20171029/music-diaries-winston-rileys-contribution-jcan-music-transcended.
  12. "The Techniques."
  13. "The Techniques."
  14. The Rough Guide says the Mighty Diamonds' "Pass the Kouchie" "brought the 'Full Up' rhythm back into favour in 1981" and that Musical Youth "cleaned up on the global market" with their cut. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 285. Wikipedia says Waite managed Musical Youth, "the band including his sons." "The Techniques."
  15. The Rough Guide credits Riley with "Double Barrel" and "Stalag 17," "his greatest legacy to Jamaican music," whose rhythm carried hits for General Echo and Tenor Saw, among others, and calls the "Ring the Alarm" cut "overdubbed." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 117, 296. Sister Nancy said Riley "lay out the Stalag riddim" for her "Bam Bam." Frosty, "Beyond 'Bam Bam': Dancehall Icon Sister Nancy on Her Improbable Career," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, March 21, 2017, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/03/sister-nancy-interview.
  16. Campbell reported that Riley died at the University Hospital of the West Indies, having been in hospital "since last November when he was shot in the head at his St Andrew home," and gave his age as 65. Howard Campbell, "Legendary producer Winston Riley is dead," Jamaica Observer, January 20, 2012, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2012/01/20/legendary-producer-winston-riley-is-dead/. Wikipedia gives November 1, 2011, January 19, 2012, and a birth date of May 14, 1943. "Winston Riley," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Riley.

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