Contents - Beth Lesser

In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the eastmen finally had their day, albeit on
western sounds. Ringo, Welton, and Lone Ranger carried the slackness style
from the west into their home turf and back again to the west. The three
dominated the dancehall scene, carrying sounds like Gemini and Virgo to the
top. Carlton Livingston, and later Lee Van Cliff, added to the list of eastmen
who made it on the western sound system circuit. The end of the ‘70s and the
early ‘80s saw the advance of the western sounds manned by eastman deejays
and their slackness, as they took over considerable chunks of the audience
from the western cultural sounds.
lone ranGer
Lone Ranger always stood out among the throngs of would-be toasters
in Kingston in the ‘70s. His voice was clear and strong, and he had a way
of enunciating words that other deejays just strung together in long, indecipherable
lines of patois. Ranger was different, perhaps as a result of his years
abroad as a child. As one of the top ten deejays of the decade, Ranger left his
mark on the dancehall scene.
In the ‘60s, Ranger and his mother spent seven years living in the UK.
They left Jamaica when Ranger was five. While abroad, Ranger’s mother enrolled
him and his brother in after-school lessons in dance and theater. He
also studied trumpet and violin. Ranger’s still young mother used to go to
parties where sound systems would be set up. She would often bring along
her boys and Ranger would listen to the English deejays. His mother also
kept small parties in the house. Besides ska and rock steady, his mother and
her friends would play the new British and American pop artists like Beatles,
Simon and Garfunkle, and Cilla Black. Ranger and his brother would lie in
their room listening late into the night.
But, London didn’t turn out to be the haven his family expected and, in
1971, they moved back. At first, both Ranger and his mother found the transition
very difficult. “When we came back to Jamaica in the ‘70s, Jamaica was
kinda slow. You know, you’re coming from London. It’s like you’re coming
back in the past. Everything is slow, there are no jobs. So my mother didn’t
want to stay.” And she didn’t. She went straight to the U.S.. “She left me here
with a big house and every month she would send my big fat check come.”
Tony walCoTT and The eaSTern danCehall SCene
Left alone, Ranger found a new ‘family’ through Chester Symoie, his next
door neighbor where he was living in Bowerbanks. Chester used to move with
Tony Walcott, the eminence grise behind several Eastern entertainers. All
the eastern sound aficionados would hang out together in a loose circle that
centered on Tony.
Although Tony had a regular nine to five job, his real passion was records.
Tony was an avid record collector. With his huge collection of Studio Ones,
Tony would hire himself out to sounds as a freelance selector. He was joined,
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