by Howard Campbell
[KINGSTON, Jamaica] – It was West Coast punk-reggae meets Jamaican dancehall. And it worked big time for No Doubt, Sly and Robbie, Bounty Killer and Lady Saw.
Twenty years later, the unlikely combination that produced Grammy-winning hit songs “Hey Baby” and “Underneath it All” have been rewarded with gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000.
The certifications were announced on March 8.
Sly Dunbar, drummer of the legendary duo, is not surprised by the songs’ success.
“We knew they (No Doubt) were a big-selling group an’ di vocal performance of Bounty an’ Lady Saw was great. They really lifted di songs,” he told South Florida Caribbean News.
From Anaheim in Los Angeles, the Gwen Stefani-led No Doubt emerged from the Los Angeles punk-ska scene during the 1990’s. When they travelled to Jamaica in early 2001 to record with Sly and Robbie, they were red-hot, thanks to songs like Don’t Speak and the massive Tragic Kingdom album.
Sly and Robbie, who started their careers in Jamaica during the early 1970’s, had worked with major pop acts like Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, The Tom Tom Club and Grace Jones.
Dunbar recalls he and partner, bass player Robbie Shakespeare, first meeting No Doubt at Geejam Studio in Port Antonio, Portland. One of the first things they did was listen to a demo tape of Hey Baby.
“We put our dancehall thing to it an’ everybody loved it. Then we went to Kingston an’ got Bounty to record his part,” he said.
While in Kingston, it was suggested that Lady Saw add a toast to Underneath it All. The songs were for Rock Steady, No Doubt’s fifth album.
Throughout the sessions, Dunbar said the sassy Stefani was making bold predictions.
“She kept saying, ‘this is going to be a number one song’,” he remembered.
She was not far off. Hey Baby peaked at number five on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 Singles Chart; Underneath it All went as high as number three on that list. The songs won Grammy Awards for Best Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
Released in December, 2001 by Interscope Records, Rock Steady has sold more than three million copies.
