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
Breaking Up
Alton Ellis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't believe it's true!
Girl, there's just no livin' without you.
Don't take your love away from me.
Don't you leave my heart in misery.
'Cause if you go, then I'll be blue,
Breakin' up is hard to do.
And you kissed me all through the night.
Think of all that we been through,
And breakin' up is hard to do.
They say that breakin' up is hard to do,
Now I know, I know that it's true.
Don't say that this is the end.
Instead of breakin' up I wish that
We were makin' up again.
I beg of you don't say goodbye,
Can't we give our love just one more try?
Come on baby, let's start anew,
Breakin' up is hard to do.
Alton Ellis's song "Breaking Up is Hard" is an emotional appeal to his lover not to leave him. He starts by expressing his disbelief at the news of her departure because he cannot envision himself surviving without her presence. He then goes on to plead with her not to take her love away from him and to avoid leaving him in misery as it would only result in him being depressed. The chorus explains the difficulty in the act of breaking up because the thought alone devastates him. He then reminisces on their past moments together, how they had been intimate, kissed all through the night, and gone through various tough times. He uses these thoughts to explain why it would be difficult to let go of their relationship.
The section "They say that breaking up is hard to do, Now I know, I know that it's true. Don't say that this is the end. Instead of breaking up, I wish that we were making up again," proves that he acknowledges the notion that severing relationships is challenging, especially relationships that have endured the test of time. He would rather suggest that problems are addressed and settled rather than being left to accumulate into a breakup. He begs his lover not to leave him, offering to rekindle their love and start afresh.
Line by Line Meaning
You tell me that you're leavin',
You're letting me know you want to leave
I can't believe it's true!
I find it hard to accept that you're really leaving
Girl, there's just no livin' without you.
My life would be miserable without you
Don't take your love away from me.
Please don't withdraw your love from me
Don't you leave my heart in misery.
Having you leave would hurt me deeply
'Cause if you go, then I'll be blue,
If you leave, I will be sad and unhappy
Breakin' up is hard to do.
Ending our relationship is tough
Remember when you held me tight,
Recall the times you embraced me fondly
And you kissed me all through the night.
And we spent the night kissing each other
Think of all that we been through,
Reflect on the things we've gone through together
And breakin' up is hard to do.
And how hard it is to end our relationship
They say that breakin' up is hard to do,
I've heard people say that ending a relationship is difficult
Now I know, I know that it's true.
Now I know for sure that it really is difficult
Don't say that this is the end.
Don't declare that this is the conclusion
Instead of breakin' up I wish that
I prefer that we reconcile instead of ending things
We were makin' up again.
That we are re-establishing our relationship
I beg of you don't say goodbye,
I implore you not to say farewell
Can't we give our love just one more try?
Can we please take another chance and give our love another opportunity?
Come on baby, let's start anew,
Let's move forward and restart our relationship afresh
Breakin' up is hard to do.
Ending our relationship is tough
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Howard Greenfield, Neil Sedaka
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mischa B
When you turn and you walk through that door
It hurts me sore, said it hurts me sore
When you look at me and you say 'Good bye'
You made me cry, said you made me cry
So listen to me, what I say to you
Breaking up is hard to do
Everybody know, breaking up is hard to do
I cannot let you go now
For my love is strong
My love is so strong now
My love is so strong
So listen to me, what I say to you
Breaking up is hard to do
Breaking up is hard to do
If you've ever been in night(?)
Then you'll know just what I'm talking about
You wake up and you find your love is gone
And you realize breaking up is so hard to do
When you look at me and you say 'Good bye'
You made me cry - I said you made me cry
I cannot let you go
For my love is so strong
My love is so strong
And if you leave I will surely die
So listen to me, what I say to you
Breaking up is hard to do
Everybody know, breaking up is hard to do...
Missy M
When you turned
And you walked through that door
It hurt me so
Said it hurt me so
When you looked at me
And you said goodbye
You made me cry
Said you made me cry
So listen to me
While I say to you
Breaking up, is hard to do
Breaking up, is hard to do
I cannot let you go now
For my love is strong
My love, is so strong
My love, is so strong
So listen to me
While I say to you
Breaking up, is hard to do
Breaking up, is hard to do
Edy Aziz
When you turned
And you walked through that door
It hurt me so
Said it hurt me so
When you looked at me
And you said goodbye
You made me cry
Said you made me cry
So listen to me
While I say to you
Breaking up, is hard to do
Breaking up, is hard to do
I cannot let you go now
For my love is strong
My love, is so strong
My love, is so strong
So listen to me
While I say to you
Breaking up, is hard to do
Breaking up, is hard to do
(..)
When you looked at me
And you said goodbye
You made me cry
I said you made me cry
I cannot let you go
For my love is so strong
My love, is so strong
And if you leave, I will surely die
So listen to me
While I say to you
Breaking up, is hard to do
Breaking up, is hard to do
Geraldine Bastien
Very privileged to have known and met this great icon. My daughter and his daughter were good friends at school also. What a legend
Sparks
@Benny Robles rocksteady*
Benny Robles
Everytime I hear this song of Alton Ellis, I start to cry……my gosh, this song catches ya….
When a song catches ya, you know it’s a masterpiece.!!
Rydemsplert IMPARTIAL MUSIC
One of the true kings of reggae - many people worldwide don't even know his name.
Ken Kovar
believers do mon!
Benny Robles
If there was youtube back then, this legend would have had millions of views.
Tiago Basci
alton ellis sempre me deixa emocionado! suas músicas são fortes demais!
Sam Moe
these guys and their tunes changed the course of my life. these vibrations, to those that really hear them, are forever impacted.
dany alva
Que hermosa voz,que hermosa melodía,que hermosa letra .Que hermoso todo no hay palabras para describir a tremenda canción. Saludos desde La ciudad de México hermanos
Gary Clarke
Rastafari Family One Love across the globe