Official Lovers Rock Men vs Women Classic Mix

The roots of lovers' rock lies in the last days of the rocksteady era and early days of reggae, with Jamaican and American singers such as Ken Boothe, Johnny Nash "I Can See Clearly Now"(1972) and John Holt enjoying international hits with versions of well-known love songs.

A style suited to the London reggae scene, lovers rock represented an apolitical counterpoint to the conscious Rastafarian sound dominant in Jamaica at the time, a continuation of the soulful and commonly love-themed rocksteady style, based on singers like Alton Ellis, who were not very optimistic about the rise of Rastafarian reggae.

It combined the smooth soul sounds of Chicago and Philadelphia soul with rocksteady and reggae bassline rhythms. Rooted in the sound systems of South London, the style had particular appeal amongst women and produced many female stars including Carroll Thompson. Louisa Mark was aged 14 when she had a major lovers' rock hit with her version of Robert Parker's "Caught You in a Lie" in 1975.

This spawned the distinctive young girl female sound associated with early lovers' rock. Simplicity formed in 1975 and released their first hit "To Be in Love" produced by Coxson; the B-side was the Emotions US R&B song, "A Feeling Is a Feeling". They were headhunted by Neville King who produced their UK reggae chart hit "Black Is Our Colour". This was followed by the husband and wife production team of Dennis and Eve Harris who then had a big hit with T.T. Ross's "Last Date". Dennis Harris then set up a new record label, Lover's Rock, at his South East London Studio on Upper Brockley Road along with John Kpiaye and Dennis Bovell, which gave the new genre a name.

Kofi performing at the Giants of Lovers Rock event, in 2012 South London trio Brown Sugar (including a young Caron Wheeler, later of Soul II Soul) pioneered a subgenre, 'conscious lovers, with songs such as "I'm in Love with a Dreadlocks"(1977) and "Black Pride". Others who released records in this subgenre included the Battersea songstress Winsome and Kofi. Lovers' rock became a staple of London's sound systems such as Chicken Hi-Fi, Success Sound, and Soferno B. Neil "Mad Professor" Fraser would be a key lovers' rock producer, working with Deborah Glasgow, while Bovell would produce one of the genre's biggest hits, Janet Kay's "Silly Games", which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1979.

Although noted for the preponderance and youth of its female exponents, the new style produced male stars as well, notably Honey Boy Martin, Trevor Walters, Honey Boy, and Winston Reedy. The trend also saw the emergence of many male groups, including Tradition, The Investigators and the Birmingham group Beshara, who is 1981, had the emotive reggae chart hit "Men Cry Too".

Subsequently, numerous well-established Jamaican acts came to try their hand at the new sound. The most successful among these were Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Sugar Minott, and later Freddie McGregor. Brown's "Money in My Pocket" (#14 in 1979) and Minott's "Good Thing Going" (#4 in 1981) were both big hits in the UK Singles Chart.

Other lovers' rock singers were Junior Murvin,[5] Beres Hammond, Horace Andy, Kofi, Sanchez, Samantha Rose, and Macia Aitken. Maxi Priest gained lovers' rock hits such as "Wild World"(1988) and "Close to You"(1990).

Seminal punk/rock/ska/reggae crossover band The Clash popularised the term, introducing it to a wider mainstream audience, by including a song called "Lover's Rock" on their 1979 signature double LP, London Calling.

The popularity of lovers' rock has continued, and in the 1980s the Fashion label was successful with UK audiences, and the Revue label had a chart-topper in 1986 with Boris Gardiner's "I Wanna Wake Up with You". In the 1990s, the likes of Mike Anthony, Peter Hunnigale and Donna Marie enjoyed success with the genre, and several British stars have performed at Reggae Sunsplash.

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