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 Cables

Band. Rocksteady, reggae

Active
1960s-1970s

The Cables were a Kingston vocal trio of Keble Drummond, Vincent Stoddart, and Elbert Stewart, who recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One in the late 1960s. The Rough Guide calls their harmonies "marvellous," and both books place them at the turn from rocksteady to reggae.

"Baby Why" is the record they are known for. Drummond wrote it about a failed relationship, and it spent six weeks at number one in Jamaica in 1968. He claimed its shuffling organ as the first of its kind, ahead of Larry and Alvin's "Nanny Goat," a claim Larry Marshall disputed. The riddim has been versioned again and again.

Their other Studio One sides, including "What Kind of World," also a hit, and "Love Is a Pleasure," are, for the Rough Guide, "easily their equal." The Soul Vendors backed them on the album. Drummond said Dodd told him it "sold a lot" and promised him money: "But he never got me some. Never."

Last updated November 4, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 90, gives the line-up as Keble Drummond, Elbert Stewart, and Vince Stoddart and says they "did not begin recording their marvellous harmonies for Dodd until 1969," having earlier cut "Good Luck To You" for Sonia Pottinger. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 213, likewise sets their best work in "their 1969 spent at Brentford Road." Drummond himself dated "Baby Why" to March 1968, and the Rough Guide elsewhere dates the "What Kind of World" rhythm to 1968. "The Music Diaries: The Birth of the Reggae Explosion," Jamaica Gleaner, December 9, 2018, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20181209/music-diaries-birth-reggae-explosion; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 366.
  2. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 90. Both books place the Cables at the turn from rocksteady to reggae: Bradley counts them among the "new blood" at Studio One as "the music made the transition from rocksteady," and the Rough Guide lists them among the vocal harmony groups of early reggae (1968-1974). Drummond said "Baby Why" had the "shuffling organ sound that signalled the transition from rocksteady to reggae." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 213; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 87; "Birth of the Reggae Explosion."
  3. On the song's subject, "Bovine Ska and Rocksteady 1/21/2015: The Cables," accessed November 4, 2026, https://lilyandgeneroso4ever.com/2015/01/26/bovine-ska-and-rocksteady-1212015-the-cables/. The Gleaner gives "Baby Why" six weeks at No. 1 in 1968 and quotes Drummond claiming it as the first record with that shuffle, ahead of Larry and Alvin's "Nanny Goat." "Birth of the Reggae Explosion." Drummond acknowledged that Larry Marshall disputed this and said Dodd had backed the Cables' claim. Peter I, "Keble 'Cables' Drummond: What Kind of World (The Interview), Part 2," Reggae Vibes, February 5, 2024, https://www.reggae-vibes.com/articles/2024/02/keble-cables-drummond-what-kind-of-world-the-interview-part-2/.
  4. The Rough Guide calls "Baby Why" and "What Kind of World" classics "that have been versioned again and again" and singles out Dennis Alcapone's deejay version of "Baby Why." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 93, 125. Wikipedia says Dodd held "Baby Why" to sound-system play for four months before releasing it. "The Cables," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cables.
  5. The Rough Guide calls "Baby Why" and "What Kind of World" "the hits" and rates "Love Is A Pleasure," "My Broken Heart," and "Be A Man" "easily their equal"; Bradley names "Baby Why," "What Kind of World," and "Love Is Pleasure" (his title) as their highlights. Morgan Heritage later used a restyling of the "What Kind of World" rhythm. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 93, 366; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 213.
  6. Wikipedia credits the backing on the What Kind of World album to the Soul Vendors, with Jackie Mittoo, Eric Frater, and Leroy Sibbles. "What Kind of World (The Cables album)," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Kind_of_World_(The_Cables_album). Drummond said Dodd told him the album "sold a lot" and promised him money: "But he never got me some. Never." He went to lawyers without result. Peter I, "Keble 'Cables' Drummond." Wikipedia adds that the group, unhappy with their pay, recorded for Harry J while still under contract to Dodd, with Drummond disguising his voice as "Herbie Carter." "The Cables." The Rough Guide notes their later records for the Sir JJ, Harry J, and Electro labels. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 90-91.

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