Biography
-
Born In
Clarendon, Jamaica
-
Died
2 November 2021 (aged None)
Ernest Wilson (born Fitzroy Ernest Wilson in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, on 18 November 1951; died 2 November 2021) was a Jamaican reggae singer who found fame as a member of The Clarendonians before working as a solo artist.
Wilson formed The Claredonians in 1963 with Peter Austin, the duo going on to become one of the most popular groups of the ska and rocksteady era, and having several Jamaican number one hits. Wilson embarked on a solo career in 1967, releasing the "Money Worries" single. Further singles followed, with "Undying Love", "Storybook Children", and "If I Were a Carpenter" in 1968 (all produced by Coxsone Dodd), "Private Number" (for Joe Gibbs), and "Freedom Train" (for Lee "Scratch" Perry - one of the first Jamaican singles ever to be released in stereo) in 1969. In 1969, he got back together with sometime Clarendonian Freddie McGregor in the duo 'Ernest Wilson & Freddy', releasing the singles "Sentimental Man" and "Love Makes the World Go Round", and later "What You Gonna Do About It" and "Let Them Talk". Wilson was also briefly a member of The Techniques.
He contributed backing vocals to tracks by Beres Hammond, Inner Circle, Jimmy Reid, Jimmy Riley, Johnny Osbourne, and Kiddus I. He was also a multi-instrumentalist, having played piano on the Umoja album as part of the DEB Music Players, bass guitar on Gregory Isaacs' Cool Ruler album, and guitar on several recordings including tracks by Tinga Stewart and Kiddus I.
Wilson has contributed backing vocals to tracks by Beres Hammond, Inner Circle, Jimmy Reid, Jimmy Riley, Johnny Osbourne, and Kiddus I. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, having played piano on the Umoja album as part of the DEB Music Players, bass guitar on Gregory Isaacs' Cool Ruler album, and guitar on several recordings including tracks by Tinga Stewart and Kiddus I.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
