Born in Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica, Alton Ellis was raised within a musical family and learned to play the piano at a young age. He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport. While at Boys' Town Ellis performed as a dancer (in a duo) in the first show that a school director called Mr Bailey had organized for Vere Johns who had been invited down to talent scout. He would later compete on Vere Johns' Opportunity Hour. After winning some competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Parkins.
Ellis and Parkins recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, initially in the R&B style, having a hit in 1960 with "Muriel" (from Dodd's first commercially-oriented recording session at Federal studios), a song Ellis had written while working as a labourer on a building site. This initial success was followed by the release of "My Heaven", which like "Muriel" was a slow R&B ballad with the instrumental triplets and vocal harmonizing common to the ballads of that period. Further releases in the R&B style followed: "Lullabye Angel", "I Know It All", "I'm Never Gonna Cry" and "Yours". The duo also recorded R&B tracks for Vincent Chin's Randy's label including "Let Me Dream". The duo split after Parkins won a major talent contest and moved to the United States. Ellis remained in Kingston, working as a printer and after losing his job, he restarted his music career, initially forming a new duo with John Holt. When Holt joined The Paragons, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. Ellis continued to work for Dodd and also recorded for his arch-rival, Duke Reid on his Treasure Isle label. At the start of his career Ellis recorded with his younger sister Hortense; early tracks with Hortense like "Don't Gamble With Love" (1965) were still in the R&B style.
By the mid-1960s, ska was moving on and the beat was slowing down to rocksteady and becoming associated with the violent rude boy subculture in Jamaican dancehalls. Many artists made records referring to the rude boys, including Ellis, although his records were consistently anti-rudie, including "Don't Trouble People", "Dance Crasher", and "Cry Tough". Releasing records under the name Alton Ellis and The Flames (the varying line-up of which included his brother Leslie Ellis, David "Baby G" Gordon and Winston Jarrett); the group had hits with "Girl I've Got a Date" and "Cry Tough". The release of "Rock Steady" (1967) backed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, the first song to refer to the name of the new genre, heralded the new direction Jamaican popular music was taking. Ellis continued to have hits for Treasure Isle; working with artists such as Lloyd Charmers, Phyllis Dillon and The Heptones. His Mr Soul of Jamaica album (with Tommy McCook and the Supersonics) is regarded as one of the definitive rocksteady albums.
Ellis toured the United Kingdom in the 1967 with Ken Boothe and Studio One session band the Soul Vendors and on his return to Jamaica he worked with Dodd, recording the tracks that would be released as his debut album Alton Ellis Sings Rock & Soul. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ellis recorded for some of Jamaica's top producers including Bunny Lee, Keith Hudson, and Herman Chin Loy. He also began to produce his own records, including "My Time Is The Right Time" (1968) and "The Message". He had two hits with Lloyd Daley in "Deliver Us" (1970) and "Back to Africa" (1971), both released in the UK on the Gas record label, a subsidiary of Pama Records.
Ellis regularly returned to England, working with several London-based producers and after spending a few years in Canada, from 1972 he based himself permanently in the UK. Ellis continued to record and perform regularly, recording in the early 1980s for emerging producers including Henry "Junjo" Lawes, Sugar Minott, and King Jammy. He also opened up the All-Tone record shop in South London, and started a record label of the same name.
Ellis continued to be active on the reggae scene until his health began to deteriorate. His latest works include performing all over Europe with a French backing-band called ASPO (About Some Precioux Oldies) at the beginning of the 21st century. Recorded in Bordeaux, France, Live with Aspo: Workin' on a Groovy Thing is the only live album Alton Ellis ever published (2001).
In 2004, Ellis was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government in recognition of his achievements.
In December 2007, he was admitted to hospital in London for treatment of cancer of the lymph glands (Hodgkins disease), but he returned to live performance after receiving chemotherapy.
Ellis died of cancer on 10 October 2008 at Hammersmith Hospital, London. His death prompted a statement from Jamaica's Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia "Babsy" Grange, who said "even as we mourn the great Alton Ellis, we must give thanks for his monumental contribution to the development of Jamaica's popular music". A funeral service and celebration of his life was held on 3 November, attended by family, fans, music industry personnel and government ministers, with tribute performances from stars including Winston "Fix It" Francis, Tinga Stewart, George Nooks, Tony Gregory, Ken Boothe, Judy Mowatt and Carlene Davis.
In 2012 it was announced that the main hall of the new Trench Town Multi-Purpose Building would be named the Alton Ellis Auditorium in his honour.
He was the older brother of the late Hortense Ellis, and the father of more than twenty children including Noel Ellis and Christopher Ellis, who are both reggae singers. He was also the uncle of the Jamaican comedians Owen "Blakka" Ellis and Ian "Ity" Ellis.
Legacy
The "Mad Mad" riddim (the track "Mad Mad" by Alton Ellis and the Sound Dimension band was released in 1968 on the Coxsone label) has been reused or sampled by many hip-hop, dancehall and reggae producers and artists. The recognizable three-note descending horn line was reinterpreted by Henry "Junjo" Lawes, and eventually became known as the "Diseases" reggae riddim. "Diseases" is notably utilized in Yellowman's hit song "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng", which has in turn has been sampled and reinterpreted by a long list of popular hip-hop artists, including KRS-One, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Sublime, and Blackstar. This constant reinterpretation and referencing has made Ellis a major but little-known influence in the trajectory of dancehall, reggae and hip hop.
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Alton Ellis (1938-2008) was a musician best known as the innovator of rocksteady music. He began recording in the late 1950s and continued until his death in 2008, but he reached his period of greatest popularity in the late 1960s.
Ellis was born in Trenchtown, a poor area of Kingston, Jamaica, and learned to play the piano at a young age. In his teens, Alton and Eddie Perkins formed Alton & Eddie, and began recording for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, scoring a hit in 1958 with "Muriel".
Ellis launched his solo career after Perkins left for the United States around 1965. He moved to Treasure Isle and began recording with the back-up trio The Flames. His first hit for Treasure Isle was "Dance Crasher", a plea for peace, and he followed it up with "Get Ready - Rock Steady", perhaps the first rocksteady recording. The song was apparently recorded with keyboardist Jackie Mittoo playing the bass guitar part because the bassist did not show up; Mittoo could not keep up with the ska beat, and the tempo was slowed down to accommodate him. This allowed for a choppier rhythm that led Ellis to expand his vocal range.
Ellis' most well-known song is probably "Girl, I've Got A Date", or "I'm Still In Love With You", a song that has been versioned many times by artists such as Sean Paul, Althea & Donna (As 'Uptown Top Ranking').
In 2006, Ellis was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards (IRAWMA), Hall Of Fame.
http://www.myspace.com/altonellisod
Ain't That Loving You
Alton Ellis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Take that loving baby
Yeah yeah
You think I love you
For just one thing
To you my love this may
Be the way that it seems
But I love the way, that you carry yourself
I even love you, love you, love you, love you
The way you wear your hair
Ain't that loving you
Ain't that loving you
For more reasons than one
Somehow, my love
You've been misled
By the things that
That other guys have said
Well, I love you, for what you are
I even love you
For what you may become
Ain't that loving you
Ain't that loving you
For more reasons than one
Did it ever occur to you
Why I do all that a man can do?
To keep that smile on your face
It's because I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you
In, uh, so many ways
Somehow, my love
You've been misled
By the things that
That other guys have said
But I love you, for what you are
I even love you
For what you may become
Ain't that loving you (Oh oh)
Ain't that loving you (Baby)
Ain't that loving you (Ain't that loving you, girl, yeah)
Ain't that loving you (Ain't that loving you, yeah, yeah)
Ain't that loving you (You and you and you and you and you)
Ain't that loving you (Let me say that one more time)
Ain't that loving you (You, you, you)
Ain't that loving you (My good love, my good love)
Ain't that loving you
In Alton Ellis's song "Ain't That Loving You," he begins by addressing his lover and tells her to take all the love he is offering her. He then acknowledges that she may believe he loves her for only one particular reason, but he clarifies that he loves everything about her, including the way she carries herself and how she wears her hair. Ellis then asks his partner to consider why he goes to great lengths to keep her smiling, highlighting that his love for her is manifested in many ways.
Ellis then remarks that his lover has been deceived by other men's statements, and he asserts that he loves her for who she is and who she has the potential to become. The chorus emphasizes that he adores her for more than one reason. Ellis concludes by repeating the chorus and expressing his love for her multiple times, asserting that his love is genuine.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, hey baby, yeah
Expression of affection and excitement towards the beloved.
Take that loving baby
Encouragement to accept and enjoy the love being offered.
You think I love you
For just one thing
To you my love this may
Be the way that it seems
Addressing a potential misunderstanding in the relationship where the beloved may perceive the love is for a single quality.
But I love the way, that you carry yourself
I even love you, love you, love you, love you
The way you wear your hair
Expressing appreciation for the beloved's entire being, including their physical appearance and mannerisms.
Ain't that loving you
Ain't that loving you
For more reasons than one
Reinforcing the idea that love is multifaceted and not limited to any one aspect of the beloved's being.
Somehow, my love
You've been misled
By the things that
That other guys have said
Acknowledging external factors that may have influenced the beloved's perception of the singer's love.
Well, I love you, for what you are
I even love you
For what you may become
Affirming love for the beloved as they are, while also expressing excitement for their potential growth and development.
Did it ever occur to you
Why I do all that a man can do?
To keep that smile on your face
It's because I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you
In, uh, so many ways
Posing a rhetorical question to prompt the beloved to consider the depth and extent of the artist's love and devotion.
Ain't that loving you (Oh oh)
Ain't that loving you (Baby)
Ain't that loving you (Ain't that loving you, girl, yeah)
Ain't that loving you (Ain't that loving you, yeah, yeah)
Ain't that loving you (You and you and you and you and you)
Ain't that loving you (Let me say that one more time)
Ain't that loving you (You, you, you)
Ain't that loving you (My good love, my good love)
Ain't that loving you
Reiterating the importance of demonstrating love in various ways and across all aspects of the beloved's being.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Homer Banks, Allen Alvoid Jones, Jr.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
George McLeod
The best reggae rhythms were created between the mid 60s to mid 70s
DON DIEGO
could not agree more mate
Karl Schneider
I've said it a million times that I could listen to Alton Ellis sing the alphabet and I'd love it.
Karl Schneider
@DON DIEGO His sister Hortense was brilliant as well. Love the Paragons with John Holt another favorite!
DON DIEGO
One of my fav Rock Steady singers
Delboy Martin
Written by Isaac Hayes & David Porter. I heard Isacc's version some years ago but still preferred Alton's version. But one week ago I discovered that Johnnie Taylor sang the original version and it's good. The same intro as the reggae version.
DON DIEGO
Great version too! Thanks for the advice
Delboy Martin
Lovers rock fans check out Robert Parker 'I Caught You In A Lie.'
Rene Rude Zeller
I love it .
DON DIEGO
Cheers my friend! Enjoy the weekend 👍