Sugar Minott
| Sugar Minott | |
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Sugar Minott performing at the 2008 Winnipeg Ska and Reggae Festival with JFK & The Conspirators
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Lincoln Barrington Minott |
| Born | 25 May 1956 |
| Origin | Kingston, Jamaica |
| Died | 10 July 2010 (aged 54) St. Andrew Parish, Jamaica |
| Genres | Reggae, dancehall |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, record producer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1969–2010 |
| Website | http://www.blackrootsrecords.com/ |
Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minott (25 May 1956 – 10 July 2010) was a Jamaican reggae singer, producer and sound-system operator.
After working as a selector on the Sound of Silence Keystone sound system, and then his own Gathering of Youth system, he began his singing career as part of The African Brothers in 1969, along with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard. The group released several singles in the first half of the 1970s on labels such as Micron and their own Ital label, and were an early example of the Rastafari movement's influence on the Jamaican music scene, taking a clear lead from The Abyssinians. After recording "Mysterious Nature" for producer Rupie Edwards, the group recorded 1974's "No Cup No Broke" for Studio One, breaking up shortly after. Minott then teamed up with the producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, as studio apprentice at Dodd's Studio One, working as a singer, guitarist and percussionist, and soon began recording his own singles. Minott developed a talent for writing new songs to fit over existing rhythms (which at the time was common when singers performed live, but rare in the studio), often proving more popular than the original songs, pioneering an approach that would be central to the emerging dancehall style.
After a number of moderately successful hits for Studio One, such as "Vanity", "Hang On Natty", "Mr. DC", and "Jah Jah Children", his debut LP Live Loving made his name and increased his popularity, and is regarded as pioneering the dancehall style that would dominate the early 1980s. It was followed in 1979 with a second album, Showcase, which included his singles that had been omitted from the first album.
The Bittersweet album followed, and then the third album of 1979, Ghetto-ology, which saw a return to roots reggae. Roots Lovers (1980) saw a move towards lovers rock, which was a UK hit. He became a bigger star in the UK than in Jamaica, his self-produced "Hard Time Pressure" being a major UK reggae hit in 1980, leading Minott to relocate to the UK, where he became a focus for UK reggae.
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