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 Silvertones

Band. Rocksteady, reggae

Active
1960s-1970s
Also recorded as
The Valentines

The Silvertones are a vocal group formed in Kingston in 1964 by Keith Coley, Gilmore Grant, and the bass singer Delroy Denton, best known for their work with Duke Reid in the 1960s and with Lee Perry in the early 1970s. They have also recorded as the Valentines, the Gold Tones, the Admirals, and the Muskyteers.

Coley and Grant, who met on the east side of Kingston, sang together as a duo before Denton joined. Their country upbringing gave the two a rustic quality against Denton's baritone, and he was the natural front man. An audition for Duke Reid that was going badly was rescued by "True Confession," which became a Jamaican hit in 1966 on Treasure Isle and on Doctor Bird in Britain, along with "It's Real," cut with Lynn Taitt's band. "Cool Down," "Old Man River," "Slow and Easy," and a 1968 cover of Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" followed for Reid. They also recorded for Sonia Pottinger, for Clancy Eccles (including "Teardrops Will Fall," 1971), and for Coxsone Dodd. Recording as the Valentines, they had hits with "Guns Fever," also issued as "Blam Blam Fever," "Old Man Says," and "Stop the Violence."

Lee Perry produced their only album of the period, Silver Bullets, voiced at King Tubby's in a single night and issued in 1973 on Perry's Black Art label and by Trojan; it is often described as the first album to come out of the Black Ark. "Early in the Morning" and "I'll Take You Home" are among its tracks. From the mid-1970s until Dodd's sunset in 2004 they recorded mainly for Studio One, where "I Want to Be There," "Smile," "Stop Crying," and "Have a Little Faith" were hits. The Studio One sides and some of the Reid material were collected on Young at Heart (1999).

Denton emigrated to the United States and was replaced by Joel "Kush" Brown. The group sang on Leonard Dillon's last album, The Ethiopian, and made Keep on Rolling (2013) and Things Gonna Change (2015). Gilmore Grant departed in 2016 and was replaced by Anthony Feurtado. They have played Heineken Startime, Rebel Salute, and Rototom Sunsplash, with Keith Coley still singing lead.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. "The Silvertones," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silvertones. Coley names the Admirals, the Valentines Brothers, and the Three Musketeers as the group's other names. Angus Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones at Rototom Sunsplash," United Reggae, September 6, 2017, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n2270/090617/interview-the-silvertones-at-rototom-sunsplash.
  2. Coley says the group formed in 1964 "at Wildman Street and Beeston Street - downtown." Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones." On the east Kingston meeting and the duo, "Silvertones Liner Notes," Vinyl Me, Please, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.vinylmeplease.com/magazine/silvertones-liner-notes.
  3. "Silvertones Liner Notes," Vinyl Me, Please, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.vinylmeplease.com/magazine/silvertones-liner-notes. The bio's "bass singer" follows other accounts.
  4. The Rough Guide places both "True Confession" and "It's Real" among Reid's productions of 1966. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 64. Both Doctor Bird issues are dated 1966, the second credited with Lynn Taitt and the Boys. "Duke Reid and the Silvertones / Tommy McCook and the Supersonics - True Confession / More Love," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/8669772; "The Silvertones with Lynn Tait & the Boys - It's Real / Storm Warning," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/708449. In Coley's account Theophilus Beckford played the song for Reid on the day of the session and urged him to record it, and it went to number one. Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones." Wikipedia gives 1965. "The Silvertones," Wikipedia.
  5. The Rough Guide notes that Reid reused the rhythm of the Silvertones' 1968 "In the Midnight Hour" for "Black Power." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 217. On the other Reid singles, "The Silvertones," Wikipedia. Coley describes the "Midnight Hour" session in Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones."
  6. Coley describes recording "Teardrops Will Fall" for Eccles at Dynamic and its run at number one. Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones." On the 1971 date, "The Silvertones," Wikipedia.
  7. Coley says Pottinger renamed them "the Valentines Brothers" and lists "Guns Fever, Stop The Violence, Sufferers Child." Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones." The Rough Guide credits "Blam Blam Fever" to "the Valentines (aka the Silvertones)." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 82.
  8. The album is dated 1973 on both the Black Art and the Trojan (TRLS 69) issues. "The Silvertones - Silver Bullets," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/7667720; "The Silvertones - Silver Bullets," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/15185916. A reissue label says it was "recorded at Perry's Black Ark studio with vocal tracks captured at King Tubby's Dromilly Avenue studio in a marathon, all-night session." "The Silvertones - Silver Bullets LP," Superior Viaduct, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.superiorviaduct.com/products/the-silvertones-silver-bullets-lp. Wikipedia gives 1974. "The Silvertones," Wikipedia. The Vinyl Me, Please notes call it "the first album to surface from the Black Ark."
  9. Both songs are on the album's track list. "Silver Bullets LP," Superior Viaduct.
  10. Coley says they sang for Dodd "until the producer's death." Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones." The singles are listed, without a source, in "The Silvertones," Wikipedia.
  11. "The Silvertones," Wikipedia.
  12. Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones."; "Biography: The Silvertones," Reggaeville, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.reggaeville.com/artist-details/the-silvertones/about/.
  13. On the Dillon album, issued in 2012, "Leonard Dillon, The Ethiopian Featuring The Silvertones - The Ethiopian Featuring The Silvertones," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/11634064. On the later albums, "The Silvertones," Wikipedia; "Biography: The Silvertones."
  14. Reggaeville says Grant "passed away in April 2016." "Biography: The Silvertones." On Feurtado, Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones."
  15. On Startime and Rebel Salute, "Biography: The Silvertones." On Rototom Sunsplash (2017), Taylor, "Interview: The Silvertones."

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