Earl Sixteen

b. Earl Daley, 1958, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. After winning local talent shows, Daley joined the group Flaming Phonics as lead vocalist before voicing the self-penned ‘Malcolm X’ for Joe Gibbs in 1975, later covered by Dennis Brown. In 1977 Daley became a member of the Boris Gardiner Happening who introduced him to Lee Perry at the Black Ark. There he recorded four tracks in 1978/9 and met Earl Morgan of the Heptones, who produced his debut album, Singing Star. His next collection was for the radio disc jockey and DATC producer Mikey Dread, although there were singles for Augustus Pablo (‘Changing World’), Linval Thompson, Derrick Harriott and others, released throughout the early 80s, including an excellent set for former Stur-Gav duo Ranking Joe and Jah Screw. By 1982/3 he was at Studio One where his third version of ‘Love Is A Feeling’ was recorded. The previous two versions were for Aston ‘Familyman’ Barrett and Stafford Douglas; to date, it remains Earl Sixteen’s most popular song. The Brentford Road sessions resulted in Coxsone Dodd’s Showcase album of 1985. Shortly afterwards, he switched allegiance to former Royals founder Roy Cousins, then Skengdon and Blacka Dread (‘Batman And Robin’) and Bert Douglas (‘Problems’). In 1988 after a two-year break, he resurfaced in England, covering Simply Red’s ‘Holding Back The Years’ and making a short-lived attempt to produce himself. During 1991/2 he was at Ariwa Sounds, recording Babylon Walls and several fine singles for the Mad Professor. Since then he has voiced for a growing number of UK producers with varying degrees of success, and appeared on tracks by Dread Zone and Leftfield. He made his major label debut in 1997 with Steppin’ Out for WEA Records.