00:00Hello everybody, you're welcome back again to the Reggae Appreciation Society.
00:05All through the rich annals of Jamaica music and indeed reggae music history,
00:09no other female artist in the genre can boast of the influence, consistency and commercial success
00:15of the subject of today's video. Her close friends and colleagues in Ritamali and Julie Mowat
00:20are close runners up but neither match the level of the delightful and brilliant Marcia Griffiths.
00:26Alongside her male peers and counterparts, she burst into the limelight at the dawn of
00:31the Jamaican music industry and went on to consistently feature as a successful singer
00:35all through the ska, rocksteady, rich reggae and even dancehall eras.
00:40In her stunning six decade career, she's been at the mountaintop of international superstardom
00:45as a solo artist, half of a groundbreaking duo and one third of a trio that is not only the
00:50greatest backup singing team of all time but also Jamaica's greatest ever female singing group in
00:55legendary i3s. Blessed with a uniquely smooth yet powerful and beautiful singing voice,
01:01she's not just a leading light of reggae's golden era but has maintained a rate of consistency,
01:06relevance and acceptance by new artists and fans on a level that her peers can only dream of.
01:12Two decades into her career, she collaborated with Bonnie Whaler and put together the song
01:17named Electric Boogie which would become her most successful single and one of the most popular songs
01:22of the 1980s but in a bizarre twist, that song's success would almost put the two childhood friends
01:27and schoolmates at loggerheads in a battle for ownership of the hit track as we will see later
01:32in this video. On top of her awesome talent, she is one of the most beautiful women in music history
01:38and always delivers captivating performances at her live shows with a courage and poise that exudes royalty
01:44and class. Now without further ado, let's take a look at the wonderful story of Marcia Griffiths.
01:50She was born Leonard Griffiths on November 23rd 1949 in Kingston Jamaica. She grew up on Oxford
01:56Street in Hannah town with her four sisters and brothers. Her mother was of Indian descent from the
02:02Marag family and she is the first cousin of dancehall legend Super Cat whose name is William Marag.
02:09Her parents were very strict so while her friends and neighbours were free to play in the streets,
02:13the Griffiths kids weren't allowed to have fun outside. To alleviate boredom, she and two of her
02:18sisters turned to music and would make up songs on the go, singing about everything possible.
02:23She had no idea she was special as two of her sisters were incredible singers who had much better
02:28voices than she did. But she cut her teeth as a member of her local church choir and performed
02:33consistently at concerts at the Kingston High School where she was a student. But a stroke of luck would
02:39alert her as well as the rest of Jamaica to a special gift. One evening in 1964, the then 15
02:45-year-old
02:45Lyneth snuck out of the house to hang out with her friends on the street and began to sing with
02:50a
02:50neighbour who was an aspiring artist. As fate would have it, singer Boce James, a member of the famous
02:56group the Bluesbusters was visiting his girlfriend right next door and was captivated by young Lyneth's
03:02voice. And Boce was so impressed that he took young Lyneth out to meet band leader and producer
03:07Byron Lee to include her in the talent contest coming up in a few days at the Karib Theatre in
03:13Kingston. And Lee wasn't pleased with Boce for trying to force in a new contestant so close to the show
03:18but would eventually allow her to do just one song. And that was all that young Lyneth would need as
03:24he
03:24put in a fantastic show that sent the crowd into raptures. Byron Lee's manager was also blown away and would
03:30invite her to perform at a television variety show the same night. After putting in a world-class
03:35performance, she was taken in as a vocalist with Byron Lee and the Dragonairs, which was one of
03:40Jamaica's biggest groups at the time. Not long after, she would begin her career as a recording artist
03:46at Jamaica's University of Reggae in the great Studio One. Coctum Dodd was a big fan of her voice
03:51and knew that she was a star in the making. At Studio One, she would unite with Bonnie Whaler who
03:56was already
03:57there with Bob and Peter. She had known Bonnie since she was in kindergarten and it would make her feel
04:02right at home. Now we're recording artists, she didn't like her birth name of Lyneth and took on
04:06the more catchy name of Marcia. Coctum Dodd would record her in duets with other Studio One singers
04:12like Bob Marley and Free Eye, but none hit until Lyneth met Bob Andy who was also another childhood friend
04:19now into music as a singer and songwriter. It would be Bob Andy that would write the songs that would
04:25become
04:25her breakout hits. The first of these was Melody Life in 1967, followed by her smash hit Feel Like
04:31Jumping which would chart in Jamaica and Great Britain. In 1969, she officially teamed up with Bob
04:37Andy as a duo and left Studio One to join Harry J Records. By the next year, they would score
04:43a massive
04:43international hit with Young, Gifted and Black. According to Marcia, after recording the song in
04:48Berlin, they flew back to Jamaica and had barely settled in when a few days after they heard that
04:53the song had rocketed up to number 2 on the UK charts. Bob and Marcia would release another album
04:59in 1971 before parting ways by 1974. Around that time, Bob Marley was trying to rebuild his team
05:06after the exit of Peter Tosh and Bonnie Whaler and had given his wife Rita the task to assemble a
05:12trio
05:13that would be his backup vocal group. Rita had worked with Judy Moore and Martha Griffiths in the past
05:18on tracks for the likes of Big Youth and others and had all struck up great chemistry. So automatically,
05:24those two were her first choice. In something of a semi-audition, Bob asked the three ladies
05:28to sing on his recording of Jar Live and they totally killed it and from that point, the i3s was
05:34born.
05:35They chose the name as a spin on the rasta concept of i&i. They were now United Three Eyes
05:40or rather i3s.
05:42They made their debut on the 90 dread album which came out in 1974 and they totally kicked ass.
05:48Pardon my french. Their impact helped make Bob Marley and the Whalers a roaring success.
05:53Not only were their vocals out of this world but they also delivered a magnificent spectacle
05:58in live performances. Their tight choreography and dazzling outfits made them a visual delight
06:03that crowned their flawless vocals. Marcel with the i3s would record a fantastic seven-year run
06:09as part of the Marley machine spreading reggae to the four corners of the globe until Bob Marley's tragic
06:15passing in 1981. And the great thing about working with Bob Marley was that he never tried to stifle
06:20his band members. And while with the i3s, Marcel Griffiths recorded three solo albums between 1978
06:26and 1980 with her producer Sonia Pottinger. However, Bob's death didn't mark the end of the i3s
06:32as the trio would continue to perform and tour. And it was out of a bad experience on one of
06:38those tours
06:38that Marley Griffiths would for two reasons to come about her biggest solo hit. In 1983,
06:44the i3s had finished performing at a concert in Canada and the promoter had broken their initial
06:49agreement. Instead of paying them their agreed fee, he paid each lady the measly sum of 700 Canadian dollars.
06:55The next day, feeling frustrated, Marcia was taking a walk to clear her head and came across a nice
07:01looking keyboard in a shop window. On a whim, she took what she was paid and bought the instruments.
07:07Soon after, she returned to Jamaica and when she got home, she began to fiddle with the keyboard
07:11sound effects and drum beats and accidentally composed the foundation of the instrumentals for
07:17her biggest hit song. And as fate would have it, Boniwela knowing she was back, came by to visit
07:22and gift her some fruits from his vineyard and saw what she was putting together. He was excited at
07:28the sound and took the keyboard home to build on what she was doing. And he returned the next day
07:32with the keyboard and what was the complete framework and some lyrics to what would become
07:36the international smash hit crossover song, Electric Boogie. Marcia was over the moon and both of them
07:42dashed to the studio and put the song together with Sly and Robbie. The song was eventually released
07:46under Island Records as a single and it will go up to number one in the charts in Jamaica by
07:51December of
07:52that same year and would eventually spread like wildfire across the Caribbean and onwards to the
07:57rest of the world. The song was a massive hit but nowhere near the juggernaut that it would become
08:02in a few years time. In the meantime, Marcia would release three more albums which were all well received
08:08as well as the i3's debut album titled Beginning which would come out in 1986. But in 1989, the song
08:15Electric Boogie would get a second lease of life when it got picked up by radio DJs in America all
08:20over again.
08:21The song's popularity was heightened when it inspired The Electric Slide, an insanely popular dance
08:26move which became and still is a fixture at weddings and family get-togethers all over the world.
08:32When Marcia found out that the song had become a smash hit, she quickly began to look for Bonnie
08:37Whaler so that both of them could shoot a music video and cash in on the song's popularity. But
08:42strangely, Bonnie Whaler was nowhere to be found. After several days, she finally caught up with Bonnie by
08:47accident for when she found him at the studio recording his own version of Electric Boogie.
08:52She was very disappointed and considered it a betrayal though she didn't confront him over it.
08:57She gave up on him and went on to do her own video without Bonnie. And Bonnie would eventually
09:02release his own version of the song but it barely got noticed while Marcia Griffith's version became a
09:08monster smash hit all over the globe. But I'm glad to note that the matter didn't create a rift between
09:13the
09:13two childhood friends. Marcia Griffith's incredible form would continue right into the 1990s and she
09:19proved that she could still be relevant after three decades when she began to record music under
09:24Penthouse Records which was at the time the hottest label and studio in Jamaica and boasted of the hottest
09:29dancehall artists and producers on its roster. She would in that period feature on songs with the
09:35likes of Boogie Banton, Cotty Ranks and Shaggy. The 2000s would see her continue her imperious form as she was
09:41continuously sought after for collaboration with newer artists and had done songs with the
09:46likes of Itana and Queen Africa. In her outstanding career, she's taken part in not less than 50
09:52collaborations and the demand for her voice doesn't seem to be slowing down in the least. She would
09:57hit a major milestone as part of the guest artists on Truth Animatals 2004 grammy award-winning album
10:03True Love. She's still active releasing albums and singles as well as touring the globe and playing
10:10concerts at a pace that would wear out artists half her age. She was honored by the Jamaican government
10:16with the order of distinction in 2014 and continued to bag numerous awards and accolades in recognition
10:22of her incredible track record. She's simply a living legend and continues to inspire new reggae
10:28arts with the passage of time. With the younger generation of artists that idolize her talent,
10:33humility, and magnificent work ethic, Marsha Griffiths is without a doubt more than deserving of her title
10:39of Empress of Reggae and indeed Empress of Jamaica Music as a whole. So there you have it.
10:45Thank you for watching the video today. Please leave a like, subscribe and until next time,
10:50Jobless!
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