They cut Train To Skaville for West Indies Record Limited (WIRL) and Everything For Crash for producer Karl ‘Sir JJ’ Johnson as Jamaican popular music evolved from ska to rock steady. It was not until Dillon teamed with Stephen Taylor and Aston Morrison to form The Ethiopians that his career gained momentum.
None of those early songs made any impact. The Wailers (Tosh, Bob Marley and Bunny Livingston) did backing vocals on Bull Whip. They were Woman Wine And Money, Ice Water, What You Get You Must Take and Bull Whip. He said his first songs were done for producer Clement ‘Coxson’ Dodd at Studio One. It did not pan out as planned and it took a chance meeting in 1964 with Peter Tosh – then a member of The Wailers – to get his recording career off the ground.ĭillon’s interview with Katz appears in the latter’s book, Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae. In an interview with American writer David Katz, Dillon said he worked in Florida as an indentured worker during the early 1960s to make enough money to pursue a musical career when he returned to Jamaica. Leonard Dillon was born in Boundbrook, a district near Port Antonio in Portland.
But three months ago further tests revealed five more cancerous lumps had developed on his brain. He was diagnosed with two brain tumours in August 2010, and last June it was discovered he had lung and prostate cancer.Īfter undergoing surgery to remove one of the tumours in February, Patrice Dillon said her father seemed to be making steady progress.
Patrice Dillon, the third of Dillon’s seven children, told The Sunday Gleaner her father died from cancer. He may not have made as many hit records as most of his contemporaries, but Leonard Dillon produced enough quality work to earn his title as a reggae pioneer.ĭillon, who died Wednesday morning at his daughter’s St Andrew home, was best known as leader of The Ethiopians, the vocal group that had big hits with Train To Skaville and Everything Crash.
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