Roydel Johnson
| Roydel Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Congo Ashanti Roy |
| Born |
12 April 1943 Kendal, Hanover Parish, Jamaica |
| Genres | Reggae |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, Guitar |
| Years active | 1971 – present |
| Labels | Pre, Sonic Boom, Jah Power |
| Associated acts | Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus, Brother Joe & the Righteous Brothers, The Congos, Singers & Players |
Roydel Anthony Johnson (born 12 April 1943), better known as Congo Ashanti Roy is a Jamaican reggae singer best known as a member of The Congos but who also recorded solo and as a member of Ras Michael's Sons of Negus.
Johnson was born in 1943 in Kendal, Hanover Parish, Jamaica, and attended Kendal School with Lee "Scratch" Perry, their mothers also being friends. At the age of sixteen he moved to Kingston to live with an aunt, and began hanging around recording studios, where he was taught guitar by Ernest Ranglin. In 1964 he was recruited to the US Peace Corps to work at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, where he worked for the next five and a half years. In 1966 he took leave to return home for Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica and became a committed Rastafarian from that point on. Being a family man Johnson always cared for his 7 children; Marie Johnson, Christopher Johnson, Miriam Johnson, Tamara Johnson, Negus Johnson, Coretta Johnson & Garette Johnson.
In the early 1970s, Johnson's ambitions turned once again to music and he hung around Kingston recording studios trying to get someone to record him. Lee Perry was the first to take a chance on him, although his version of "Standing on the Hill" was passed over in favour of that by Chenley Duffus. With nobody prepared to record him as a singer he concentrated on the guitar, and worked as a member of the Sons of Negus in the early 1970s, as well as The Righteous Brothers (led by Vivian "Yabby You" Jackson and also featuring Albert Griffiths of The Gladiators). In 1977 he met Perry again, who after hearing Johnson play "Row Fisherman Row", invited him to his Black Ark studio to record the song. Jackson arrived at the studio with Cedric Myton and they would record together as The Congos for the next few years, his tenor complementing Myton's falsetto.
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