Reggae legend Horace Andy @ Róisín Dubh
Ashley Beedle (left) and Horace Andy.
By Kernan Andrews
HORACE ANDY is best known for his work with Massive Attack in the 1990s, but to reggae fans he is an icon, gifted with one of the most distinctive voices in reggae music.
Horace Andy will be joined by DJ and producer Ashley Beedle, for a show in the Róisín Dubh on Saturday June 13 at 8pm.
Born Horace Hinds in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1951, Andy came on the reggae scene as part of the second generation of great singers who followed in the footsteps of Ken Boothe, John Holt, and Delroy Wilson. He recorded his first single in 1967 for producer Phil Pratt but it was not until 1970, when he met Coxsone Dodd, that his career started to take off.
Dodd decided that Hinds should record as Horace Andy, partly to capitalise on the popularity of Bob Andy, and partly to avoid comparisons with his cousin, Justin Hinds, with whom his singing style at the time showed a resemblance.
‘Got To Be Sure’ became his first release and over the next two years he notched up hits with ‘See A Man’s Face’, ‘Night Owl’, and ‘Mr Bassie’. Andy’s most successful association with a producer took shape with Bunny Lee during the mid-1970s. This era produced a series of classic singles such as a re-recorded ‘Skylarking’, ‘Just Say Who’, ‘You Are My Angel’, and a new version of ‘Something On My Mind’.
In 1977 Andy moved to Connecticut and his 1978 album Pure Ranking had anticipated the rise of dancehall reggae. His position as leader in this genre was confirmed by the 1982 album Dance Hall Style. In 1985, he relocated to Ladbroke Grove in London.
The 1990s saw Andy’s profile further raised when he began collaborating with Bristol trip hop pioneers Massive Attack, going on to contribute to four of their albums, most notably with ‘Angel’. He also worked with Mad Professor, and released his own Living In The Flood album in 1999.
Andy continues to tour and record with Massive Attack and in his own right as a solo artist. In 2007 he released an album on the Taxi Gang label with Sly & Robbie and the live album On Tour for Trojan Records.
Ashley Beedle is a DJ and producer who, with David Hill and Rocky & Diesel, formed the Ballistic Brothers in the 1990s. He is now working with Horace Andy and the pair recently completed an edition of the Strut Records Inspiration Information series.
Tickets are available from the Róisín Dubh and Zhivago.