The two Bobs in my life were ordained by God – Marcia Griffiths

Regal in purple, the ‘Queen of Reggae’ Marcia Griffiths held court inside the J. Wray & Nephew’s offices in New Kingston last Wednesday at the launch of the Marcia Griffiths & Friends concert scheduled for November 3 at the Royal Hope Botanical Gardens in St Andrew.

The royal celebration will commemorate the Reggae Queen’s 60th anniversary in music, and she is promising that it will be a show like no other. For an entertainer who has some 50 collaborations, Griffiths could host a days-long celebration just doing duets, and it was a testament to her goodness that Tony Gregory, her very first collaborator, was present, having driven in the pouring rain from St Ann just to be there. Another tribute came in the form of Nadine Sutherland, who stepped off the plane at the Norman Manley International Airport into the venue because she, too, had to be there.

It was a night on which the past and the present collided with smiles. Griffiths’s son, Taf, proudly listened as emcee extraordinaire, ‘Mr Yes Indeed’, Tommy Cowan, spoke of seeing his mother perform when she was just a 14-year-old girl. That was in the year 1964 at the Carib theatre in Cross Roads, “the number one place that shows would be held”.

“A young lady at about 14 years old was called to the stage because of the introduction from the brother from a group called the Blues Busters. His name was Phillip James … we called him Boasy,” Cowan said, all ears tuned in to him.

He continued, “And we asked Byron Lee to have her on that show. And as that young lady walked on that stage, she looked around and was listening for the band to start that song. Realising that the band would not start the song, a voice inside said to her, ‘Sing, child sing,’ and she opened her mouth to sing a song called No Time to Lose. What a song to sing! And that song tore the place apart. From that time, the name Marcia Griffiths became known in the music world.”

Appreciative claps erupted from the friends, sponsors and media present as Griffiths made her way onstage. An icon whose journey has been liberally sprinkled with stardust, as well as hurdles, Griffiths did not hold back in expressing her gratitude to God and to her supportive fans. She had quite a few stories of her own to share about her pioneering endeavours, even as she hailed the two Bobs in her life – Marley and Andy.

“Ever since I started in 1964, I would go into Studio One every day, and almost every artiste [there], Mr Dodd would [ask them] collaborate with me. I thought it was just entertainment and fun, and Bob [Marley] is the one who opened my eyes that made me realise that this music is much deeper than just singing and dancing. It is a responsibility that you have ... for whatever you send out there in the medium of music, if it wasn’t teaching and uplifting and uniting, you would just fall by the wayside. I am truly thankful that I could share my journey with a man like Bob Marley, and I give thanks for him,” Griffiths said, again to applause.

“One of the special moments I shared was with Bob Andy … so it’s two Bobs I had in my life, and they were both special. It was no accident, no coincidence, it was ordained by God,” the Dreamland singer added.

Griffiths recalled the numerous “hard luck stories” sold to her, particularly as a woman in a male-dominated business, when it was time to get paid “and that was nine times out of 10”. She told of a trip to Canada to perform with the I-Three, only to be paid a meagre CDN$700 at the end of the night. But that was the same money that she used to purchase a rhythm box in a store in Toronto that would make the beat for one of her biggest hit songs, Electric Boogie.

“The guy showed me the different sounds and the beats and everything, and I bought it and took it home and because Bunny Wailer and I go a long way back … he used to hold my hand and drop me off at lickle school we used to call it then … he visited me one night, and I showed him the rhythm. I showed him one beat with the repeater piano, and Bunny fell in love with the beat just as I did. And he took it to Portland and came back with it the next day, and that was the Electric Boogie. So you see that out of evil cometh good,” Griffiths said.

Chart activity for the Electric Boogie saw it reaching number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1990, and this version was also a minor hit on the Hot Black Singles chart, peaking at number 78.

Quite comfortable as she was surrounded by friends, Griffiths spoke passionately at the end about the importance of having a strong foundation to build on. “I would never like to be a teenager again because this generation will never see and experience what we have seen. Nothing can stand if the foundation is not solid, and I am thankful that I was a part of the foundation, and we can see the music standing strong and firm. I am happy to see so much young people … it starts from the kindergarten to the home of the aged ... at all my performances. So on November 3, I am looking forward to seeing this generation because they are the generation of tomorrow, and we are the foundation people.”

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com