LONDON – One of the true pioneers of reggae, for many years Owen Gray bemoaned the lack of respect from Jamaica, his homeland. That changed last October when he was awarded the Order of Distinction (Officer class) by the country’s government.
Because he could not make the trip to Kingston for the National Honours and Awards ceremony in Kingston six months ago, Gray had to wait until April 20 to receive the insignia from Alexander Williams, Jamaica’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
The 83 year-old singer accepted the OD, Jamaica’s sixth-highest honor, at Williams’ office in London.
Singer Owen Gray (right) receives the Order of Distinction (Officer class) from Alexander Williams, Jamaica’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom on April 20 at Williams’ office in London.
“I’m so grateful, I’m so grateful. It’s great to know that people remember me and consider me,” Gray said in an interview with South Florida Caribbean News. “It’s a beautiful feeling.”
Born in St. Mary, a hilly parish in eastern Jamaica, Gray reputedly recorded Patricia, the first song released by Island Records, in 1960. He had other hit singles such as Please Let me Go before migrating to the UK two years later.
At the time, that country had a growing West Indian population, many of whom were involved in music. As a ska artist, Gray found a growing market for that horn-hooked sound among white working-class youth called Skinheads.
His contemporaries in London included fellow Jamaicans Jackie Edwards, Laurel Aitken, Dandy Livingston, Millie Small, Jimmy James, Tony Tribe and The Cimarons.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Gray teamed with Jamaican producer Anthony “Chips” Richards to record several popular albums that won him new fans in Europe and South American countries like Brazil.
