Top-selling Jamaican artist Barry Biggs has revealed that he has never received an award in Jamaica, despite being one of the island’s most accomplished engineers and singers over the years. Biggs, known for his rendition of the Blue Magic song “Sideshow,” which peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. Official Singles Charts, began recording in 1968. He cites his early inspiration as doing Beatles song covers, which he loved at the time.
“You know, I receive awards from everywhere else but Jamaica,” Biggs shared with WMV, reflecting on his decorated career, which includes a placement in the Guinness British Hit Singles Book Of Records 13th edition. He was awarded the Black British Heritage Celebration Award for Arts & Entertainment last year at a ceremony in Miramar Florida.
Like many of his Jamaican music counterparts, the issue of royalty has affected his earnings. “I was told ‘Sideshow’ sold 1.5 million copies in Europe, but collecting my royalties has been a problem since Byron Lee passed away,” he said while not getting too deep into the matter.
Sideshow was certified Silver in the U.K. on January 1, 1977 by the British Phonographic Industry for selling 200,000 copies as measured by the Official Charts Company putting Biggs in the elite company of Jamaica’s highest selling artists.
Biggs, who is now 77, started out as a cameraman but quickly wore multiple hats, working as a recording engineer at the Jamaican Broadcasting Company, and spending time as a member of the band known as the Astronauts. He later assumed the role of lead singer for Byron Lee’s Dragonaires.
“I used to work at Television, but my friends on the radio side used to play my songs. I sang with Inner Circle for a short time and then went with the Astronauts, which included Mikey “Boo” Richards, one of the top session drummers, Earl Wire Lindo, Richie Daley, who later played with Third World, and Ernie Smith, who was also a singer in The Astronauts,” he said.
Skipping form band to band as an in demand singer he recalls how he ended up with the Dragonaires, “I left my previous band, ‘The Astronauts,’ because someone approached me while I was rehearsing one night and said, ‘the Dragon wants to talk to you.’ So, I went to see Byron Lee, and he said he had heard so much about me and wanted a voice like mine in his band. At that time, groups like The Stylistics and Michael Jackson were popular in Jamaica, and I was singing their songs,” the lovers rock singer reflected.
Many of Barry Biggs’ popular recordings were reggae cover versions of soul hits originally performed by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Blue Magic, the Chi-Lites, the Moonglows, and the Temptations. “Lovers Rock was never started in Jamaica, it started in the U.K.” he said during a performance on Miramar Florida on Saturday night.
Growing up in Jamaica and later in the U.K. at age 25 provided him with a well-rounded experience during the music boom in London. “My experience was great because I went to school in the UK around 1961, just when the Beatles were becoming popular,” he said.
It was at Lee’s Dynamic Sounds studio where Biggs also took on the roles of producer and engineer. He recorded his first Jamaican hit, a cover of the Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple.” His international breakthrough came in 1976 with “Work All Day,” a track recorded seven years earlier. From 1976 to 1981, Barry Biggs charted a total of six hit singles on the UK Singles Chart. “Sideshow” achieved the highest rank in January 1977, spending 16 weeks on the chart. Other songs include “You’re My Life,” “Three Ring Circus,” “What’s Your Sign Girl,” and “Wide Awake In A Dream.”
Collaborating with Jamaican producer Bunny Lee, he recorded two songs, “Sincerely” and “You’re Welcome,” which performed well on reggae charts. Biggs also secured the No. 1 spot on the UK reggae chart with “Wide Awake in a Dream” and “A Promise Is a Comfort to a Fool.”
In his latest musical endeavor, he joined long-time friend Clive Hunt for the new musical project “Rub-A-Dub Soul,” inspired by The Beatles.
“Myself and Clive have been friends for many years. When he asked me to get involved with the project, I said yes. Clive used to be with Byron Lee and played trumpet in the band for about three or four tours together, and we worked together in the studio many times,” Biggs said.
He explained, “I was inspired by The Beatles. I knew the words to all their songs because they received a lot of airplay, and everyone was singing their songs. I was a Beatles fan. I used to wear Beatles boots, and their clothes became popular. Everyone was wearing them. I have about four unreleased Beatles covers already.”
Barry’s rendition of “Love Come Down,” originally by Evelyn “Champagne” King, reached the top 10 in the Netherlands in 1983. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Barry Biggs steered clear of prevalent political and Rasta themes in Jamaican music at the time.
“I tried to stay away from politics and everything and stuck to my love for music. I respect the Rastafarians, but I stuck to what I knew. I respect Bob Marley, and I was friends with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Bunny used to come to Dynamic Sounds when I was the studio manager,” Biggs reflected. “It was the sometime I did some backing vocals for Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Give The People What They Want,'” he said.
“In my days as a cameraman and sound engineer at JBC, we had one-track recording days when you couldn’t make mistakes; otherwise, you had to record over. Bob Marley and the Wailers recorded ‘Selassie Is The Chapel,’ and if you look at the credits, you’ll see I was one of the engineers on it. Danny Simms produced the album.” Biggs names indeed on the credits along with Buddy Davidson and Errol Thompson as engineers for the album.
“I also mixed the first version of ‘Please Don’t You Rock My Boat’ by Bob Marley and The Wailers,” Biggs added.
Biggs’ musical link continues in Dancehall as his daughter Denise is married to producer Dave Kelly.
