Global Music Unit 2 Quiz Figures

Millie Small

Jamaican singer whose 1964 hit “My Boy Lollipop” was the first ska song to become an international hit, reaching top of charts in UK and US. Chris Blackwell (founder of Island records) produced it, and the success opened the door for Jamaican music abroad.

Bob Marley

Began in the early 1960s with The Wailers as a ska group, recording at Studio One (“Simmer Down” 1964). The group moved through rock steady and then into reggae. In the 1970s Island Records took Marley global, and his lyrics carried Rastafari beliefs, resistance to oppression (“Babylon”), and African identity. Songs like “One Love” and “redemption Song” made him the face of reggae worldwide.

Lee “Scratch” Perry

A producer and innovator who started in the ska era at Studio One and later became a major force in reggae through his own label and his Black Ark Studio. He produced early Wailers records and is a founding figure of dub, using the mixing board as an instrument by stripping tracks down and adding echo and reverb.

Coventry

English industrial/car manufacturing city where Two Tone began. In the late 70s, it was hit by factory closures and unemployment, and it faced racial tensions, including National Front activity, alongside a large Caribbean and South Asian community. That mix of economic decline and multiracial neighborhoods shaped the music’s politics.

The Specials

Formed in Coventry in 1977 with a racially mixed lineup, they fused Jamaican ska and rock steady with the speed and energy of punk. They covered Jamaican songs as well as wrote sharp songs about racism, unemployment, and urban decay.

Jerry Dammers

The Specials’ keyboardist and main songwriter, and founder of Two Tone Records, the label that launched the movement. He deliberately built a multiracial identity as a statement against racism. Wrote “Ghost Town” and “Free Nelson Mandela"

The Selecter

Another Coventry Two Tone band. Their name comes from the “selector” (the sound-system DJ who chooses the records.) Hits included “On My Radio” and “Three Minute Hero”.

Pauline Black

The Selecter’s lead singer and one of the few Black women leading a band in that scene. She performed in a suit and hat, taking on the rude boy look.