I was born [1 Feb 1957] in Kingston right at the corner of Orange Street and North Street. You have a big tenement yard, that was where I grew up, really...Slim Smith and the Techniques used to come in my yard and rehearse...I didn't record as the Falcons. You see, each of us recorded separately. Like Noel Brown and Scotty, they recorded as the Chosen Few, and I recorded as Dennis Brown then...Well, the first record was a song called "Love Grows" which wasn't released until after the second record I did for Coxson, which was "No Man Is An Island"...It was the second song made, but the first to release. And since then we just kept making records and doing backup harmonies on various songs.

Like we worked with Alton Ellis, Larry Marshall, we did harmony and songs with Alton Ellis like "Sunday Coming" and "Your Heart Will Pay."
ROGER STEFFENS: What was it like to record in the Coxson Studios in the early days? You were very young when you first went in. Were you really nervous, or did you have a lot of confidence?

DB: I had a lot of confidence for the main reason that I was established as a "boy wonder" then, at that time, and like I used to have a lot of people who loved to hear me sing, like the engineer and meself and the musicians would get on well. Not only with the musicians, but with other artists like Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson, and all the others, like groove! You know, we had that groove; I didn't feel no way. You just went right in and just recorded songs and listened them, and if there were any mistakes, then we would correct them and just went on...one take or two take.

Usually, first I would run down the song then I would just take one take, and after that I wouldn't need another one. I wasn't thinking of competing with any artists as such, I was more thinking of being among them, and sharing thoughts with them; like sharing views, ideas, etc. I wasn't like competing with Tom, Dick or Harry. To be with them was so much that - you find that most artists who come in the business and try to complete against other artists never last long because they exalt themselves too much; because when one thinks that their feet are getting too big for their shoes, you find that 90% of the people don't really dig that artist because he's trying to hang his hat where he can't reach it. It's like belittling others.

RS: How did you get mixed up with Byron Lee? Did he discover you?

DB: Actually, I was working with Byron for around a year or two, and Ken Lazarus was like the musical director of the band at that time...It wasn't until 1968 that I played with Byron, around the first time Johnny Nash came to Jamaica. Like when Miriam Makeba and Adam Wade were there, they played in Arena, and I sang with Byron and the band, coming onto Christmas time and thing. Every year West Kingston used to have some charity balls at the Arena.

RS: Did anybody make money out of music in those days, except the producers?

DB: Only the producers.
LARRY MACDONALD: Or someone who walked with his machete to collect his portion.
KEN LAZARUS: You know I can't name you an artist that wasn't exploited.
.
(c) 1999 Roger Steffens Reggae Archives - www.reggaesupersite.com
e-mail: rasrojah@aol.com