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| Desmond Dekker, San Francisco CA 2005. |
Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group, The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with "Israelites". In 1968 Dekker's "Israelites" was released, eventually topping the UK Singles Chart and peaking in the Top Ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of 1969. Dekker was the first Jamaican artist to have a hit record in the US with a form and style that was purely Jamaican. In 1968, he was referenced by The Beatles in the ska-influenced song, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (from The White Album) starting with the lyric: - "Desmond has a barrow in the market-place". In the 1970s Dekker spent most of his time touring and moved to the UK, where he continued to record. Among his best known releases of this period was "You Can Get It If You Really Want".
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At the end of the 1970s, Dekker signed with Stiff Records, a punk label linked with the 2 Tone movement, a fusion of punk and ska. He recorded an album called Black & Dekker which featured his previous hits backed by The Rumour, Graham Parker's backing band featuring Roland Gift, later of the Fine Young Cannibals. His next album was Compass Point, produced by Robert Palmer. Dekker was still a popular live performer and toured with The Rumour. He re-recorded some old singles, and worked with The Specials for 1992's King of Kings, which used hits from Dekker's musical heroes, including Derrick Morgan. He also collaborated on a remix version of "Israelites" with reggae artist Apache Indian. Dekker died of a heart attack on 25 May 2006, at his home in Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon, England, aged 64, while he was preparing to headline a world music festival in Prague. (Wikipedia)
