Althea & Donna, singers and songwriters of the song “Uptown Top Ranking,” which climbed to the top of the British singles chart in 1977, are one of two female Jamaican acts to hit #1. The duo told World Music Views in this exclusive interview that they have not been paid any royalties for 47 years for the original recording, which was done in Joe Gibbs studio, just above Cross Roads, Kingston in 1977. That recording is now owned by German record company BMG and the publishing controlled by Round Hill, as a result of a series of acquisitions.
Althea Forrest made it clear that they were not discovered on the streets as was rumored, and they were educated teenagers who attended the top high schools in Kingston: Queens, Immaculate, and St. Andrews Girls’ School.
“We were never found on the streets; we would like to make that clear again. I started singing with Derrick Harriott when I was 13,” Althea says. “Hey Mister” was her first song recorded at Federal Studios in 1976, a Jamaican label founded by Kenneth Lloyd Khouri, which was later sold to Rita Marley for Tuff Gong Studios in 1981.
In her late teens she met Donna Reid, and the two started singing together. “Years later Jacob Miller and Inner Circle were having a concert on the beach in Ocho Rios. It was summer break, school was out, and we were some uptown girls hanging out on the beach. We ran into each other on the beach and ended up hanging out the whole weekend together. On the drive home, we heard Trinity’s ‘Three Piece Suit,’ and we started adlibbing, just having fun. I said one thing, and she said one thing, and the song was made.” “Three Piece Suit and Thing” By Trinity was produced by Joe Gibbs Music in 1975 with interpolations of Alton Ellis’ “I’m Still in Love With You Girl” (1967).
As fate would have it, “We didn’t find the studio; the studio found us,” Donna says. “After we got back home, we would go to the clubs and hang out with Third World, Dennis Brown, Jacob Miller, and one night Jaques (Jacob Miller) approached us, and we kinda just reeled it off to him.”
Two days later, Jacob Miller took them to the studio with Inner Circle band to record the song with an unnamed third party. That version with the trio was never released, Donna recalls, “Inner Circle ditched the project, we didn’t, because they said it didn’t sound right.”
Miller wouldn’t give up on the unreleased song. He went back to Donna’s house days later and this time took her and Althea to Joe Gibbs’ studio, where they met Errol Thompson and recorded the first version of the now-popular track.
They didn’t know they had a hit. “Back then, the internet didn’t exist, so you didn’t know things until somebody told you. I called Donna and told her the song was swan with something.”
Donna, who was in New York by then, came home to Jamaica, and the two went off to Europe to do shows, and this was when the song climbed the charts to #1. They covered all the major media house at the time and did Britains most popular music tv show ‘Top Of The Pops.’
“Althea was underage; I had just turned 18,” Donna said. “Then my father had to sign me over to Donna’s dad,” who became their manager, Althea added. “We never met Joe Gibbs until Europe; that’s when Joe Gibbs came into the picture.”
Gibbs, she said, tried to sign the two to his label, but they refused. While in London, both Island Records and Virgin got into a corporate tussle to sign the newest kids on the UK charts, but they ultimately opted for Richard Bronson’s offer.
“We got signed with Virgin Records, and our contract was to do 3-5 albums,” they both agreed, with Althea confirming that the value was more than $250,000 at that time, which would be the equivalent of $1.2 million in 2024. They released one album titled “Up Town Top Ranking,” which was recorded in Nassau Bahamas and Dynamics studios. The album included a re-recording of “Uptown Top Ranking” with musicians Sly and Robbie.
“We had a #1 record on signing, and that was the only time Richard Bronson actually got involved with any of his artists. Being 17 and 18, we seemed quite promising; then there was no other #1 female since Millie Small,” Donna said.
There has not been a #1 song by a female Jamaican artist in the U.K. since, and they are both reminded of that when they think about uncollected royalties for the original recording of “Up Town Top Ranking” at Joe Gibbs’ studio.
“We decided to take back what is ours, and every lawyer we got to give us legal expertise and direction, he bought them out within days; they were acting funny and not returning calls.”
“Uptown Top Ranking” has been sampled and covered by the likes of Joni Rewind feat. Estelle, Ali and Frazier (1993), and the melody used on former Hungarian porn star and political figure Ilona Staller’s “Pane Marmellata E Me” and German singer Tandem’s “Ein Typ Wie Du” in 1978 and 1982, respectively.
The title and lyrics have also been re-released by Trojan Records’ new catalog owners Sanctuary with original versions of the track for 2019’s Love Is All I Bring and 2024’s 50 track 2-CD collection of Jamaican songs titled “Uptown Top Ranking: Trojan Ska & Reggae Chartbusters.” Althea and Donna said they have never been consulted nor paid for those re-releases.
Reggae artist Horace Andy also told WMV that he has not received any royalties for songs acquired by Trojan UK for over 40 years.
“How does that happen?” Donna said about her music being exploited.
Watch full interview with Althea and Donna on YouTube below:
