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 Clarendonians

Peter Austin
Sunrise 1944 or 1945, Sunset July 21, 2023, St. Andrew, Jamaica
Ernest Wilson
Sunrise November 18, 1951, Sunset November 2, 2021, Kingston, Jamaica

Band. Ska, rocksteady

Active
1963-1970s

The Clarendonians were Peter Austin and Ernest Wilson, named for the parish they came from, and they recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One as ska gave way to rocksteady, before moving to Ken Lack's Caltone label. Freddie McGregor, then a small boy, sang with them for a period.

Their catalog documents the changeover in Jamaican music between about 1964 and 1968, moving from fast ska to the slower rocksteady tempo as the studio itself did. "Rudie Gone a Jail" belongs to the rude boy cycle that preoccupied Kingston in the mid-1960s, in which singers alternately warned, mocked, and defended the young men causing the trouble. "Darling Forever" and "You Can't Be Happy" are among the other Studio One sides.

They had the Skatalites and later the Soul Vendors behind them. Wilson was eleven when he joined, and one account has Austin drawn by "the boy's perfect timing and crystal clear vocal delivery"; Howard Campbell says it was the youngster's range that impressed fans of what he calls one of the top groups of the ska era. Wilson went on to a long solo career. He departed at Kingston Public Hospital on November 2, 2021, aged sixty-nine, and Austin departed at his home in St. Andrew on July 21, 2023, aged seventy-eight.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 58, says their Studio One material was "recorded in the hiatus between ska and rocksteady," and on p. 80 places them at Caltone "fresh from their sojourn at Studio One." Wikipedia, citing Colin Larkin and the Jamaica Observer, says both came from Hayes, Clarendon, came together in 1963, and recorded for Leslie Kong and Duke Reid before Dodd; the Gleaner dates the group's formation to 1965. "The Clarendonians," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clarendonians; "Ernest Wilson, Founding Member of the Clarendonians, Dies at 69," Jamaica Gleaner, November 3, 2021, http://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20211103/ernest-wilson-founding-member-clarendonians-dies-69.
  2. The Rough Guide says Freddie McGregor made "a couple of records with Ernest Wilson of the Clarendonians in the mid-1960s, when the pre-teen had to stand on a box to reach the mic." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 263-64. The Gleaner says Dodd suggested that the duo perform with the seven-year-old and paired him with Wilson as "Fitzy and Freddy." "Ernest Wilson ... Dies at 69."
  3. The Rough Guide treats "Rudie Gone A Jail" as a hit, its sequel "Rudie Bam Bam" as a song that "cuts both ways," and Bunny Livingston's "Let Him Go" as "no doubt a response" to the first. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 58. On "Rudie Bam Bam," see also Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 38, and Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 203.
  4. The Rough Guide singles out "their first recording of 'Darling Forever'"; the Gleaner lists "You Can't Be Happy" among their hits. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 58; "Ernest Wilson ... Dies at 69."
  5. Campbell calls them "one of the top groups in the ska era" and says fans were impressed by the young Wilson's vocal range: Howard Campbell, "Clarendonian Ernest Wilson Dies at 69," Jamaica Observer, November 3, 2021, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2021/11/03/clarendonian-ernest-wilson-dies-at-69/. On Austin, Willie Luncheonette, "Starting a Jamaican Music Collection Part 2b: Rock Steady, the Groups," Tracking Angle, March 6, 2023, https://trackingangle.com/features/starting-a-jamaican-music-collection-part-2b-rock-steady-the-groups. The Gleaner notes that he briefly recorded as King Shark with the Techniques and released albums in 1992, 2007, and 2010. "Ernest Wilson ... Dies at 69."
  6. The Gleaner reports that Wilson "died on Tuesday at the Kingston Public Hospital," at sixty-nine. "Ernest Wilson ... Dies at 69." The Observer gives the same hospital and age. Howard Campbell, "Clarendonian Ernest Wilson Dies at 69," Jamaica Observer, November 3, 2021, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2021/11/03/clarendonian-ernest-wilson-dies-at-69/. Austin "died at his St Andrew home on July 21," aged seventy-eight. Howard Campbell, "The Clarendonians' Peter Austin Dies at 78," Jamaica Observer, July 25, 2023, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2023/07/25/the-clarendonians-peter-austin-dies-at-78; "Legendary Singer Peter Austin of the Group, The Clarendonians, Dies at 78," Clinton Lindsay, July 22, 2023, https://clintonlindsay.com/2023/07/22/legendary-singer-peter-austin-of-the-group-the-clarendonians-dies-at-78.

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