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 Melodians

Band. Rocksteady, reggae

Active
1960s-1970s

The Melodians were a vocal trio of the rocksteady era whose "Rivers of Babylon," cut for Leslie Kong in 1970 and carried around the world by The Harder They Come and then by Boney M, is among the most widely heard records Jamaica has produced.

The group was formed in Greenwich Town in 1963. Trevor McNaughton had the idea and approached Tony Brevett, then fourteen, a nephew of the Skatalites bassist Lloyd Brevett and already a winner of local talent contests; Brevett brought in his friend Brent Dowe. Bramwell Brown sang with them briefly, and Renford Cogle, who wrote or co-wrote much of the catalog and arranged it, was the silent fourth member. Dowe and Brevett split the lead vocals, over what Tim Cooper calls "sweet vocal harmonies."

They recorded for Prince Buster before Ken Boothe brought them to Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, where little of what they cut was released. The move to Duke Reid's Treasure Isle in 1967 produced their first success, including "You Have Caught Me" and "Last Train to Expo 67." They then recorded "Swing and Dine" for Sonia Pottinger and "Little Nut Tree" before going to Leslie Kong at Beverley's, where they made "Sweet Sensation" and "Rivers of Babylon."

"Rivers of Babylon" sets Psalm 137 and Psalm 19 to a slow rocksteady rhythm, with the Rastafari address to King Alpha in place of the psalm's Lord. Its inclusion on the soundtrack to The Harder They Come (1972), in which the three appear briefly, took it well beyond Jamaica, and Boney M's 1978 disco version became one of the best-selling singles ever released in Britain. Dowe and McNaughton are credited as writers on it.

Kong departed in 1971 and the group recorded afterward for Lee Perry and for Byron Lee at Dynamic. Dowe left in 1973 and the Melodians broke up, re-forming in 1976 to recut their old hits for Harry J, again in the early 1980s, and once more in the 1990s roots revival, when they cut "Song of Love" for Tappa Zukie in 1992. Brent Dowe departed on January 28, 2006, at fifty-nine, days after a rehearsal; the cause was a heart attack. Tony Brevett departed in Miami on October 25, 2013, and Trevor McNaughton, the last of the three, in Hollywood, Florida, on November 20, 2018.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Bradley places "The Rivers of Babylon" on Kong's Beverley's label at the turn of the decade and counts it on the soundtrack of The Harder They Come. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 225, 284. The Rough Guide calls it "haunting." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 88.
  2. "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness," Jamaica Gleaner, November 10, 2013, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131110/ent/ent4.html. "Melodians Trevor McNaughton Is Dead," Jamaica Observer, November 21, 2018, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2018/11/21/melodians-trevor-mcnaughton-is-dead/. Dowe himself told the Rough Guide the group "met in '62 in a competition for Vere Johns" and rehearsed at Back-A-Wall; the National Library of Jamaica also gives 1962. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 70. "Brent Dowe," Reggae Exhibition, National Library of Jamaica, accessed October 4, 2026, http://www.nlj.gov.jm/REGGAE%20EXHIBITION/Brent%20Dowe.htm.
  3. The Gleaner mentions brief "incursions by Bramwell Brown and Ranford Cogle," and calls Cogle "a foundation songwriter for the group." "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness." Dowe: "Back in the ska days, most groups was four or five - we was four." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 170.
  4. The Gleaner credits Brevett's "warm baritone" and Dowe's "anguished tenor." "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness."
  5. Tim Cooper, "The Melodians: Sweet Sensation," Eats, Drinks and Leaves, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.eatsdrinksandleaves.com/?p=6154.
  6. McNaughton recalled "undistinguished pieces for Prince Buster" before Boothe introduced them to Studio One, where "Lay It On" was their first hit. "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness." Dowe told the Rough Guide that the group first recorded for Studio One in 1964, recalled first going to Coxsone in 1965, and said they cut four songs there. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 70-71. Wikipedia dates the Studio One session to 1966. "The Melodians," Wikipedia, accessed October 4, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Melodians.
  7. Dowe names "I'll Get Along Without You" and "You Don't Need Me" as their first songs for Duke Reid; the Gleaner counts "You Have Caught Me" as their third. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 71. "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness." Bradley lists "Come On Little Girl" among the Treasure Isle hits. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 172. Augustyn dates "Last Train to Expo 67" to 1967, for Duke Reid. Heather Augustyn, "Last Train to Expo '67," SkaBook (blog), January 16, 2015, https://skabook.com/2015/01/16/last-train-expo-67/.
  8. Bradley places "Swing and Dine" and "Little Nut Tree" on Pottinger's Gay Feet label, and Pottinger recalled cutting "Little Nut Tree" at Dynamic. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 171. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 81. Dowe dates the move to Beverley's to 1969. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 71. Bradley lists "Sweet Sensation" and "The Rivers of Babylon" among Kong's Beverley's releases. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 225.
  9. Dowe: "we tell him it's a Christian song, that we want to sing to reggae," and the record was briefly banned from the radio "because I sing 'Oh Fari.'" Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 71. The Rough Guide counts it among the period's "more commercial takes on Rastafarian chants." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 132.
  10. Boney M's "Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring" spent forty weeks on the chart, five of them at number 1, in 1978. "Boney M," artist page, Official Charts, accessed October 4, 2026, https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/15971/boney-m/. Bradley says the Melodians' record sold an estimated 80,000 in the UK before Boney M's cover "shifted several million more." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 274.
  11. "The Melodians: Rivers Of Babylon," Discogs, accessed October 4, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3160380. Bradley says simply that "Brent Dowe wrote 'Rivers of Babylon.'" Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 274.
  12. "The Melodians." The Gleaner says the group went on an overseas engagement after the Kong years, "with Dowe being the only member of the group to return." "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness."
  13. "The Melodians." The National Library of Jamaica says the group split in 1968, came back together in 1969 and split again. "Brent Dowe," National Library of Jamaica.
  14. Most sources give January 29, 2006: the National Library of Jamaica, Punknews (reporting Trojan's announcement) and Wikipedia, which says he died that evening after a rehearsal. "Brent Dowe," National Library of Jamaica. Justin August, "In Memoriam: Brent Dowe of the Melodians (1947-2006)," Punknews.org, accessed October 4, 2026, https://www.punknews.org/article/15889/inmemoriam-brent-dowe-of-the-melodians-1947-2006. "The Melodians."
  15. "The Melodians." "Melodians Trevor McNaughton Is Dead." Brevett's death came "two weeks" before the Gleaner's tribute of November 10, 2013. "Tony Brevett's Unheralded Greatness."

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