World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Yvonne Harrison

Artist. Ska, rocksteady

Active
1962-present
Also known as
Yvonne Adams, Roy and Yvonne

Yvonne Harrison is a ska singer, half of Roy and Yvonne, one of the first and most requested boy-girl duets of Jamaican ska.

Lindon Pottinger, who owned the Tip Top label with his wife Sonia Pottinger, discovered her in the autumn of 1962 and brought her together with Roy Panton, whose partner Millie Small had just left for England; they met at WIRL's studio and recorded "Two Roads," with "Join Together" on the B-side, and the pairing caught on at once. They recorded both together and as solo singers through the decade. She is also credited as Yvonne Adams.

Decades after going their separate ways, she and Panton were reunited in Scarborough, Ontario, the subject of a Canadian documentary. In 2012 Liquidator Music issued a compilation of their sides from 1961 to 1970, with guest appearances by Monty Morris, Millie Small and Glen Adams, and in 2014 the duo released Moving On, their first new studio recordings in four decades, backed by Teddy Garcia's Musical Combo.

Last updated October 21, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. "Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison," artist page, Liquidator Music, accessed October 21, 2026, https://liquidatormusic.com/en/management/artista/roy-panton-yvonne-harrison, which calls them "one of the first duets" in ska and rocksteady.
  2. "Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison." A singer's recollection in the Rough Guide has Lindon Pottinger owning Tip Top "along with his wife Sonia Pottinger," and the book later describes Sonia as "formerly married to producer Lindon O. Pottinger." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 66, 80.
  3. "Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison."
  4. "Bovine Ska and Rocksteady 2/25/15: Roy and Millie," Lily and Generoso 4ever! (blog), March 2, 2015, https://lilyandgeneroso4ever.com/2015/03/02/bovine-ska-and-rocksteady-22515-roy-and-millie/, which calls her "Yvonne Adams (Harrison)."
  5. Chris Flanagan and Graeme Mathieson, dirs., Roy & Yvonne, episode of Sounds and Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land (National Film Board of Canada), accessed October 21, 2026, https://nfb.ca/film/roy-yvonne.
  6. "Studio Recordings 1961-1970," Liquidator Music, accessed October 21, 2026, https://www.liquidatormusic.com/en/ediciones/edicion/studio-recordings-1961-1970-2/.
  7. "Moving On," Liquidator Music, accessed October 21, 2026, https://www.liquidatormusic.com/en/ediciones/edicion/moving-on-2/, which calls them "their first recordings in 4 decades."

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