Little Roy

Little Roy Little Roy, born Earl Lowe in 1953 in Whitfield Town, Kingston, Jamaica, is a pioneering reggae artist. He began recording at the age of 12 in 1965 with producers Coxsone Dodd and Prince Buster, the latter giving him the stage name Little Roy. He was the first artist to include the word “reggae” in a song lyric. At 16, he achieved his first number one hit with “Bongo Nyah” (1969) for Lloyd Daley, the first commercially successful song about the Rastafari movement in Jamaica. Throughout the 1970s, Little Roy worked with notable figures such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, Dennis Brown, and Leroy Sibbles, producing influential tracks including “Tribal War” and “Prophecy.” His compositions were widely reinterpreted, with artists like George Nooks, John Holt, and Freddie McGregor using his rhythms for their own hits. He continued to collaborate with producers Maurice "Scorcher" Jackson and others, solidifying his influence on roots reggae and the Rockers style. Little Roy has maintained an active recording career over the decades. He reissued his early material on the album Prophesy and released Live On in 1991 and Long Time in 1996, which featured a remake of his 1973 single “Righteous Man.” In 2005, he released Children of the Most High. In 2011, he collaborated with Prince Fatty and the Mutant Hi-Fi on Battle for Seattle, a reggae reinterpretation of Nirvana songs, including a cover of “Sliver/Dive.”