When you are known on a first-name basis in households around the world, it's safe to say that you're some-kind-of famous--Angelina, Kanye, Reese, Paris, Mary, Jen (no not JLo) all share that commonality. In the world of Reggae it's no different. We have our Bob, our Dennis, our Marcia and of course our Freddie. As you will see very shortly, fame has not gone to his head, nor has it worn him down. Freddie Mcgregor's musical flame is as strong as ever and even more so now that his children are blazing their own musical trails. But more of that later. Let's start at the beginning.
Internationally-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer, Freddie McGregor boasts a lengthy career that started all the way back in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old. In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to form The Clarendonians, and began to record for the Studio One label. McGregor worked with producer Niney the Observer during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and others including Junjo Lawes, Linval Thompson, and Gussie Clarke.
Influenced by the sounds of Stevie Wonder, the legendary Bob Marley, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Bob Andy and many others, Freddie finessed his talent with early tracks like "Why Did You Do It" and "Do Good and Good Will Follow You." In the mid-sixties he teamed up with Ernest "Fitzroy" Wilson to form the duo Freddie and Fitzroy while he continued to develop his craft. In 1975, Freddie's musical and lyrical content changed with a strong slant towards lyrics of social consciousness with tunes like "Mark of the Beast," "I Am A Rasta" and reggae classic "Bobby Babylon." In 1977 Freddie released his long awaited album Mr. McGregor, which contained reggae mainstays such as "Zion Chant," "Rastaman Chant" and "Walls of Jericho." This album marked a major milestone in his stellar career and in 1981 his tune "Big Ship" became one of reggae's biggest hits, earning him a permanent place in reggae music history.
Equally at home in lovers rock or roots & culture, this unstoppable wonder boasts many hits like "Push Come to Shove," "Africa Here I Come," "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," "I Was Born A Winner," "Guantanamera," his signature "Big Ship"; "Lock Dem’ Down" and "Bangarang," which were both chart topping #1 hits from his Comin' in Tough.
In 1989, Freddie launched his own record label, Big Ship, featuring Jamaica Classics Volume One as the first major release. Part of this compilation included popular tunes like Little Roy's "Prophecy" and Derrick Harriot's "The Loser." Today, Big Ship is the largest and most recognized reggae label in Japan handling its own production, manufacturing, distribution and promotions. To date, Big Ship has produced several reggae artists including General Degree, Cutty Ranks, Mikey Spice, Benjy Myaz and Freddie’s daughter Yeshemabeth. His album entitled Anything For You featuring the songs "Uncle Sam," "I See It In You" and "Anything for You," was nominated for a Grammy. Recently Freddie produced the historic Super Stars Extravaganza DVD, highlighting rare concert footage from the 1989 Denbigh Show Ground (May Pen, Clarendon, Jamaica). The DVD features live performances by the great Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Cocoa Tea, Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul, Carlene Davis and the legendary Tamlins.
Over the years, Freddie has consistently “given back” to the community in many ways. He produces his own concert entitled RockSteady Meets Reggae, which promotes unity within the reggae fraternity. He also donates to charities throughout the world and manages his own US and England based children's organizations; Big Ship Foundation Inc. and the Freddie McGregor Children’s Fund, both of which provide services and funding to renovate schools.
Freddie McGregor continues to please reggae fans and music lovers throughout the world headlining international concerts and venues including Poland's Blue Note, Japan's Jumping Splash, Reggae Sunsplash (Clapham Common), the Cartegena Festival (Colombia), Midem (France), the Jamaican Expo (performing for Nelson Mandela and Prince Charles), the London Hammersmith Apollo - performing with John Holt and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Annual Caribbean Tourism Week (NYC) and many others. On August 8, 2003, Jamaica's Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, honored Freddie with the prestigious Jamaican Order of Distinction in recognition of his contribution to Jamaica’s music and culture. His popular tune, "Lovers Rock," was featured in the critically acclaimed HBO exclusive Disappearing Acts and Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater saluted Freddie with the honor of being an Apollo Living Legend. Freddie McGregor is currently the chairman of Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA).
McGregor has spanned nearly every stylistic shift in Jamaican music, from ska and rocksteady to Rastafarian roots reggae to lovers rock (his particular specialty) to dabblings in dancehall, ragga, and dub. Now it's time for Reggae Pop and through his son's Daniel (AKA Chino) and Stephen (AKA Di Genius) Big Ship is becoming the hit-maker in contemporary Reggae. Popular artists like Sean Paul, Mavado, Vybz Kartel, Bramma, Alaine, Laden and many others have sung on Big Ship produced records, many of which become radio favorites. Freddie is still the captain though, and plans to steer it with a steady grasp wherever the music takes him.
Generous giver, youthful entertainer, it-seem like-you're-a-good-father-who-train-your- children-right-cause-they-so-nice-an- mannerful-and friendlyand-ting--ummm-er (:-) Freddie McGregor you are The Lime certified!
Q&A
1. Can you name one place you’ve never visited but would like to and why?
Yea. You know say me waan go Israel. It has so much spiritual relevance to my thoughts and beliefs and there are some things I would love to clarify for myself.
2. You’ve been in the industry for decades; do you see yourself calling it quits any time soon?
No. Music is something you can’t quit. If it choose you, you can’t quit. In music many are called few are chosen. If you are chosen you can’t quit. I think I was chosen to do this—I’ve been doing it since I was seven and I ‘m still doing it. So there’s no quitting just go on till you can’t go on any more.
3. Ever been star struck? Who was the celeb?
I can’t remember ever being…I’m trying to think back to my early days. But no, not really. When I became signed to Polydore we had people ah open limousine everyday it didn’t really dawn on me that I was a star-- that I could have taken the praise for things like having top 10 singles in England at the time. We did top of the pops, just about all the major television programmes. But, I think if you are originally a grounded person you’re gonna stay humble. Some people get excited about what is happening and oftentimes get carried away, some people manage to stay grounded. Bob Marley did that and I am a big fan and admire him in many more ways than one. One of the things that I learned from Bob was the seriousness of not just the music, but the business and being able to have the control necessary to run an operation. It was through that determination and knowledge that I managed to set up Big Ship.
4. What do you like most about yourself?
About myself??? Oh my what a ting. What me love most bout myself??? The ting weh mi love most bout myself is to be able to give. Yeah, and it look like a ting with music and certain artists. As I say that mi reflect pon Dennis Brown. He give till him give away everyting—all himself. I love to give. I love people—that was always my ting. As a youth growing up it was very difficult. Half the times you see a long line of people outside a Mr Cox studio waiting for an audition. This man don’t sound real good and they tell him to come back inna three months time and him just leave and you can see pon him face that him a come back inna three months time. A next one they say come back a two weeks; and the next you wait over there so. And you just watch that kind of situation a gwan, I was fortunate to not have to go through that and mi realize say need to help some people who less fortunate and don’t’ have the opportunity to go to some of the more fancy studios to get a break. Jjust maybe we might be able to help some people get a different life or make a difference inna dem life. So far we are doing that. You can just look around and you see a Mavado, Elephant Man, Sean Paul, Kartel—all the artists that we’ve worked with, there’s a difference with them today as opposed to when they just started as a result of being able to walk through here freely and come get them stuff done- which make them become more famous (told him he’s getting it back) ya man, pure blessings! Look here, see the youts a par around that’s how we get our blessings. I believe the more you give, the more you get, and that has been my experience and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
5. If you could have dinner with any three people describe the moment?
I would like to have dinner with the president of the United States, Barack Obama to address the issue of deportation. The simple question I would like to ask Mr. Obama is why no country is allowed to deport a US citizen while the US is allowed to deport any person or persons from a different country. Doesn’t make sense to me so I’d like to take him up on that one.
Queen Elizabeth- me woulda just love talk to her about her meeting with His Imperial Majesty and what commitment she made as far as repatriation and the African Diaspora and if that is something she still upholds and if one day in the near future we might get the assistance promised to us.
Dada Mandela- I would just love to sit down with him, cook him a nice meal and just ask him if he could tell me what it was like during those years in prison. The cause-we understand that already, that’s why we love him so dearly; but if him coulda just share some of his experiences with me that would just set my life straight!
6. What do you like to do when you are alone?
I love a quiet surrounding, cause it makes me think. Two things I love other than music is fishing and horse racing. I guess the horse racing gives me a thrill that releases the tension. As an entertainer and creator, mi love a nice clean meditation and mi love fishing for the meditation that it brings. So racing kinda gives you that excitement, that adrenaline rush and fishing—if you’ve never been fishing before the first time you catch a nice fish pon your line you not going waan stop fish. More than just the feel is the meditation. You have to throw that line and diligently wait for the fish to come and take it up. So during the time that you wait so many things come on your mind. Mi write a few songs waiting for fish. I love fishing dearly.
7. What did you do to celebrate on your last birthday?
I didn’t do anything. I doh remember. Where was I on my last birthday? I doh remember you know. The last birthday mi had, mi tink de yout dem did keep party for me. Umm, I am kind of past that you know? Sometimes dem force it, and you know you just roll with it. I don’t so much look forward to my birthday. I look forward to my yout dem birthday. I look forward to celebrating with them. I’ve gone through nuff birthdays.
8. What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for someone of the opposite sex?
I dunno if it really crazy, but I got married because of love..yeah that’s a cool one.
9. What is your most used word or phrase?
'Getting’ it done' or 'get it done.'
10. What are your favorite:
non-Caribbean city—London
dish—(laughs) dumpling ackee and susumber
movie—Natural Born Killers
sport—basketball
colour—purple
Freddie (representing JARIa) with Babsy Grange and other govt representatives (pic courtesy JARIa.org)
Go With Your Gut
11. Knowledge or wisdom?
Wisdom is good eno, because I think through wisdom you will gain the knowledge and the understanding fi move forward
12. Hot tub or hot spring?
Hot spring
13. Good food or good lovin?
Both (laugh)
14. Morning or evening?
I love evenings especially for the cool breeze.
15. Breast or booty?
Breast
Finish It
16. Women are gorgeous
17. You wouldn’t believe this but I love cooking.
18. I love it when people love one another.
19. Condoms should be a must.
20. Freddie McGregor is a God-blessed person.
BONUS
In 20 years I hope I am still recording, doing shows here and there and hopefully managing some of the younger talent that we produce.
If I had to do it all over again but not as a singer, I would be an athlete- a jockey.
click HERE to read Freddie's Reggae Month Questions
freddiemcgregor.com
myspace.com/bigshipinc
JARIA.org
"Take Your Time" on the New Chapter Riddm produced by Stephen "Di Genius" McGregor
I was Born a Winner"
"Push Come To Shove"
Performing "Big Ship" live
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