INTERVIEW WITH... JOY WHITE

Tell us about your earlier days in the reggae music industry.
As a child, I’ve always loved music, I was always singing. My mother was a good friend from Duke Reid, she told him about my desire to sing. He invited me to come to his studio to do an audition that took place on Sundays. I was very young, I was 8 or 9 years old. He listened to me to see if I really had talent. He said « yeah, you can sing !». So from that time, I was always going in and out easily. I would come and ask if I could record a song but sometimes, it was so full because you had The Heptones, John Holt, all of those superstars. I did a few songs that didn't even come out at that time because it's like he was saying this was like school. Also this is like learning because I don't really know nothing about singing on mike and studio things. That's like every time we go is a learning process. I did some harmony all the time, for Hopeton Lewis and his song "Boom Shaka Laka", for Ken Parker… I started there, but then after a while, it was like I only keep going in and out. The student do things that is not coming out and just hang out. I wanted more than that, so I left.
I concentrated a little bit on my schooling and then I went to Studio One. I met The Heptones, they were a young group but they sang very well. A lot of artists and musicians used to be there. I met Nana McLean, we became good friends. I recorded a lot of stuff for Mr Dodd, but at that young age, nothing much happened how I wanted, so I was a little bit disappointed and I left Studio One.
I became a christian. I was singing in church but something was missing so I went back to Studio One.
Mr Dodd was happy to see me and told me « as you turned christian, you should do a christian album for me ». I started recording some gospel songs in 1971 or 1972. I was still going to church so I wasn't going so often to the studio. Only 2 of these songs were released officially.
Nothing was happening as I wanted, so I moved on to and I went to Lee Perry studio. That's where I met Junior Byles, Michael Rose, Family man... I asked him to record a cover of Millie Jackson's hit, "Hurt So Good" but he wasn't paying much attention to that. So I went to his woman to ask her talk to her husband for me. She talked to him then they started recording me. One day, I just heard Susan Cadogan come in the night and record "Hurt So Good". I was disappointed. That was the time I stopped working with him.
Keith Poppin introduced me to Lloyd Campbell. He loved my voice and I recorded "Dread Out Deh". Two weeks after, that was a number one ! I had a lot of songs with Lloyd. Some are on tape he didn't release. "Dread Out Deh" was an hit but this song was not giving me any money or anything so I stopped working with him.
I went on tour on Canada with Derrick Morgan and Johnny Clarke which was organised by Bunny Lee.

Lloyd Campbell, who introduced Donovan Germain into the music business, organized his first recording session in Channel One studio with you and Ronnie Davis. Do you remember your first meeting with Germain ?
I met Donovan Germain in Lloyd Campbell 's house. He said to me "I have a good friend from America. Maybe you can do some things for him ?". Germain seemed to be a nice person and I decided to record songs with him. The first song Germain asked me to sing was "Sentimental Reasons".



You recorded some combinations with Ronnie Davis. Did you have a special feeling with him?
Lloyd Campbell had a lot of artistes : Freddie McKay, Jimmy London, Ronnie Davis… I met Ronnie Davis at the Treasure Isle studio. Lloyd Campbell asked us to do a combination together. Our first combination was "Please Stop Your Lying".

Your album "Sentimental Reasons" is the very first album produced by Donovan Germain in 1978 for his first label Revolutionary Sounds. Tell us about this project
The Tamlin's did the harmonies. Jackie Edwards wrote two songs on that album for me : "Jealous Woman" and "If You Runaway". The rest of the songs are covers, love songs, chosen by Germain. I was writing songs and wanted to do my original songs but he said to me "do some cover and you get a quicker burst of it". But I think original songs are more powerful.
In december 1979, just after "Sentimental Reasons", I toured with Black Uhuru, Sugar Minott in the USA for the first time. It was organised by Germain and Ken Williams who was working at a radiostation in New York.



All the riddims on this album were played by The Revolutionaries. Did you collaborate with them in the studio?
I was with the musicians in the studio. I knew Sly Dunbar, we grew up together. We went together to the studio with the musicians. We played music, eat, drink, talk and laugh. Those were beautiful days. I don't see those times anymore

The title "Dread Out Deh" on this album was produced by Lloyd Campbell in 1974 for. Do you know why it’s features on this album ?
Lloyd Campbell and Germain were good friends. They did a deal together. The songs "Dread Out Deh" and "First Cut Is The Deepest" on this album were produced by Lloyd Campbell a few years earlier

Your song "It's My House" is not on this album. Was it recorded after ?
Yes "It's My House" was recorded after the album.



Tell us about the different producers you have worked with
The worst was Lloyd Campbell. He wasn't all bad person, when we used to do session, after session he'd take everybody for lunch. We all ate, drank, talked and dreamed together. But he wasn't paying for my studio work.
Germain is not perfect, nobody is perfect, but he is eight and a half time better.
Mr. Dodd was a very nice fatherly person to sit down, talk and laugh with. I didn't get any money for "Counting On You" but I got a little bit of money when he released the first two titles from my gospel album. He was always there, like a father figure. He was a genius, he could see ahead of time. The music business was really hard. People don't know how much it takes for a producer, because when I started producing myself, that's when I realize how it was difficult. They don't realize after you put down X amount, you invest X amount of money, and then you have to push the song and then you have to give the song to some company...
I did a few songs for Courtney Cole also, the owner of Roof International Records in Ocho Rios. He used to put out a lot of stage show with Garnet Silk and all of those youth. He used to have a dub studio and I used to work in the record shop also in Ocho Rios. He was a cool person.

Your daughter DJ Naz Gurlpower is also in the music business. Did you help her ?
Yeah, I give her advice but the songs that she's doing is not my advice because if she listened to my advice, she would do more cultural songs. I can't make her be me. That she is she and I am me. I love her as she is my child but I still encourage her to do more conscious songs.

Why did you migrate to Germany ?
Germany is a story. I was doing my own little thing in my marriage and my family life. I met Gracy from The Herbman Band, a german band. I produced the song "The Rising Sun" recorded with them in Jamaica in 1988. She said to me that Germany was nice. I had never been to Germany at that time. I went on tour in Germany in 1990, this first tour was organised by Helmut Dobler. I returned there 8 years later for a second tour. I've been staying in this country since that time. I still write some songs. I released the song "Question in your eyes" two years ago which is a Gee Cee production from Florida.



What differences do you see between jamaican and german productions ?
The difference is the distance. Everybody lives in different places, the musicians live far from each other.

You have been in the reggae industry for almost 50 years. What is your opinion about the evolution of this music over these years ?
I will always love the cultural music and love songs even if there's a lot of other type of songs. We lost a lot when we lost Bob Marley. I get the feeling that something good is gone. When Garnet Silk is gone, I get the same feeling. There were some great producers, although they didn't pay the artists. Producers like Mr. Dodd. When we lost Mr. Dodd, we lost something very good with the music. Bunny Lee was also a real good down to earth person. Music, now, is like you have a plant and then you look one day it is like you have too much sun on it or you get too much water. It's still alive but it needs something.




DISCOGRAPHY FOR REVOLUTIONARY SOUNDS LABEL :

- If You Runaway (1978)
- I'm In The Mood For Love (I'm In The Mood For Love riddim - 1978)
- It Has Come To My Attention (1978)
- It's My House (1979)
- Jealous Woman (1978)
- Love Is A Message (1978)
- Love Was All I Had (1978)
- Sentimental Reasons (Sentimental Reasons riddim - 1978)
- Sentimental Reasons feat. Prince Mohammed (Sentimental Reasons riddim - 1978)
- Silent River (1978)