Joe Higgs - The Godfather Of Reggae

This Week's Reggaeology Feature

If there is one person in Jamaican music that has never been given his due credit, is the man who some consider the "GodFather of Reggae", Joe Higgs.

The unheralded mentor and inspirator of legends such as Bob Marley, Bob Andy, and Derrick Harriott, it is his musical alchemy in the primordial echo chamber of Reggae, that continues to resonate throughout history.

Joe Higgs was an interesting disruptor from birth.

Born on the same day as Curtis Mayfield, Joseph Benjamin Higgs took his first breath on June 30, in 1940 Kingston Jamaica. Joe was born in a set of Triplets, the son of a fireman, his mother eventually had 23 children including 2 sets of triplets and 3 sets of twins..and all boys.

His natural tenacity for music was nurtured in the church from a very early stage, and when he got bored with singing, started to learn a range of instruments, eventually settling with the solace of the acoustic guitar as his first love.

A fateful meeting with the principal of the mico practising school for teachers, A Mr Ivan Shaw, would see him entering the teacher's college in 1956, eventually becoming a certified music teacher in 1958.

That year Joe Higgs settled in a small bungalow at 9 Third Street in Trench Town, an address that would become one of the most iconic creative hubs in Jamaican music.

A fateful connection in 1958 with Roy Wilson at an audition led to the musical partnership Higgs & Wilson, and by the following year, the duo delivered their first debut single "I Long For The Day" on Edward Seaga's WIRL records in 1959.

The track did well enough in the Caribbean to find its way to the UK via Starlite Records, and back home the success of the single would catch the ears of Coxsone Dodd, who used Ronald Alphanso to front the rushed production "My Baby" on a Coxsone sub-label, but the single fizzled.

Edward Seaga would sign Joe Higgs after the ordeal and the Duo returned in no short order in the summer of '59 with the Jackie Edwards penned track "Oh Manny Oh",for WIRL Records backed by Ken Richards & The Comets, one of the seven monikers used by Cluett Johnson's Bluesblasters band.

Released in 1960, the single "Oh Manny Oh" hit the UK on the Bluebeat imprint, soon finding its way stateside on the shortlived Time Records label, and by the end of that year, had sold close to 60,000 copies across the transatlantic market.

The duo would continue cutting tracks for Edward Seaga's WIRL records throughout 1961, however, they would step out of the box and drop the single "Mighty Man" for Supreme Records, then a sub-label for Coxsone Dodd.

It would seem the move did not go down well with Seaga, and by indications from the WIRL Record catalogue, the Duo never recorded with the label again, and as a matter of fact, no producer in Jamaica attempted to release a Higgs and Wilson in the island until 1963, the year Joe's contract expired with Edward Seaga.

Joe Higgs took his downtime in stride and opened his home to youths within the trench town community who showed an interest in music.

Many came, a few stayed, and for those that did he taught vocal technique, a little guitar, and a lot of mentorship for those who needed guidance.

And for those that did, the moments spent with Higgs would prove to be legendary.

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