Introduction to Daddy U Roy:

My first introduction to Daddy U Roy was listening to his album “Dread In a Babylon” from my fathers vinyl record collection as a child. Three of my favourite songs were “Runaway Girl” U Roys version to “Ken Boothe – Just Another Girl”. The second being “Chalice In The Palace” his toasting cut to Bunny Browns version of “Queen Majesty” and “Listen To The Teacher” his toasting cut to “Lloyd and Devon – Red Bum Ball”.

At the age of 11 I set out to build my own sound system “Jah Troopers” and my first collection of records were my dads record collection, so I now had the album in my possession along with a catalogue of 7” and 12” 45s. This is when I discovered U Roy’s cut on Alton Ellis’s “Ain’t That Loving You” with his name spelt Hugh Roy, and “Natty Rebel” where he toasts over the Gladiators version of Bob Marley & the Wailers classic “Soul Rebel”.

U ROYs Music In The Dance:

In 2000 we had a show supporting our first international act Jah Love Sound System from Jamaica. One of the songs they played that stuck with me was “U Roy – Jah Jah Call You”. 

The song fuses his oldskool toasting style with a little sing-jay flavour, over a digital sounding Roots beat. Jah Love played the song then flipped the version and all the artists performed on the riddim receiving a big forward. I hunted down the 7” vinyl to get the song with the instrumental on the B side.

U Roys Connection To Our Hometown:

Years later we had a booking in our resident town Northampton, East Midlands, UK. The booking was supporting The Abyssinians alongside Daddy U Roy. The promoter had a reputation of no show artists. As the time drawn closer to the event speculations arose if the Artists were going to show. An elder in the town who was also one of my mentors contacted me and said she spoke with U Roy and he was still in Jamaica with no idea the event was being advertised in the UK. He said someone had contacted him as an enquiry but nothing was followed up. She then went on to tell me her connection with U Roy from when he spent time in Northampton as a youngster with his mother and family. He chose to go back to Jamaica whilst his family chose to stay and become prominent people in the community. She said her father used to run a venue called the 21s Century Club during the 60s/70s and when U Roy was spending time in Northampton he performed at the venue.

Selecting on “King Stur Gav” U Roy’s Sound:

In 2008 U Roy was touring the UK with his Sound System King Stur Gav featuring a crew of artists; Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales, Genral Trees, Echo Minott, Little John, Anthony Johnson  and Al Campbell. The first show was held in Birmingham. When Stur Gav arrived they had no selector as he had an issue with his visa and was unable to fly. All the sounds on the bill played then we played the set before Stur Gav. When Daddy U Roy heard our sound play he asked the promoter if I can select for him. This was one of the greatest highlights in my musical journey. Daddy U Roy was impressed with my performance and I was privileged to be their selector on the rest of the tour.