Friday, April 08, 2016

Day 160 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Earl Zero - Get Happy

Earl Anthony Johnson AKA Earl Zero was originally a member of a band called Rush-It with childhood friend friend Earl "Chinna" Smith and was given the Zero name by Bunny Lee to help differentiate him from Smith.  Aside from "None Shall Escape The Judgement" which he wrote and became a hit for Johnny Clarke, he achieved some minor success with "Righteous Works," a single produced by Al Campbell and released in 1975 on the Addis Ababa label.  His recordings for producers Don Mais and Tommy Cowan yielded a few more great roots tunes and the following year he recorded for Bertram Brown which resulted in today's track "Get Happy," originally pressed as a 7" on Freedom Sounds and which made its way on to his debut album In The Right Way in 1979That same year Earl Zero relocated to Northern California and still records sporadically today.  I picked today's song simply because it's the perfect sentiment to begin the weekend and also because it's just a nice record!

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