The Maytones

The Maytones, also known as The Mighty Maytones, were a Jamaican reggae vocal duo formed in the late 1960s, consisting of Vernon Buckley and Gladstone Grant, both from May Pen, Clarendon. They began recording rocksteady tracks for Studio One, which were not released, before finding early success with producer Alvin Ranglin, scoring local hits with songs like “Loving Reggae”, “Funny Man”, and a cover of Greyhound’s “Black and White” in 1971. The duo initially focused on love songs but later shifted to roots reggae with tracks like “Judas”, “Babylon a Fall”, and “Run Babylon”, achieving significant acclaim with their song “Madness”, which led to an album of the same name. Encouraged by the success of similar acts like The Mighty Diamonds, the group and their producers rebranded them as the Mighty Maytones. They released Boat to Zion in 1978 and contributed “Money Worries” to the 1979 Rockers soundtrack, although they were largely overlooked by British record labels at the time due to their non-Rasta image. Despite some successes, the group disbanded in 1980 when Vernon Buckley relocated to Canada. The Maytones reunited in the 2000s, continuing to perform and record. Vernon Buckley also pursued a solo career, releasing the album Raw, and collaborated with acts such as Bedouin Soundclash, helping to sustain the duo’s legacy in reggae music while introducing their sound to new audiences.