The Paragons

For the US doo-wop group, see Winley Records.

The Paragons were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Kingston, Jamaica, initially active in the 1960s. Their most famous track was "The Tide Is High", written by band member John Holt.[1]

Career

The Paragons were originally Garth "Tyrone" Evans, songwriter Bob Andy, Junior Menz, and Leroy Stamp. In 1964 Stamp was replaced by singer and songwriter John Holt, and Howard Barrett replaced Menz.[1]

The early Paragons sound used the vocal harmonies of Jamaican groups of the early 1960s. Beginning in 1964, they recorded on the Treasure Isle record label with record producer Duke Reid, songs such as "Memories by the Score", "On the Beach", "Only a Smile" and "Wear You to the Ball", which were later covered by UB40, Horace Andy, Dennis Brown, Massive Attack, and others. Other recordings included "Man Next Door" aka "Quiet Place"/"I've Got to Get Away" (1968) and "Happy Go Lucky Girl". [1][2]

The Paragons' recordings, including the widely covered "The Tide Is High" from 1967, written by Holt, and featuring the violin of "White Rum" Raymond, are among the highlights of Jamaican popular music.[1] "The Tide Is High" was taken to the top of the UK and US charts by Blondie in 1980;[3] while Atomic Kitten's cover version also topped the UK Singles Chart in 2002.[4]

The group reformed in the late 1970s and released further albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Evans died in 2000, and Holt in October 2014.[5]

Discography

Studio albums

Contributing artist

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Biography by John Dougan". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  2. ↑ O'Brien Chang, Kevin & Chen, Wayne (1998), Reggae Routes, Temple University Press, ISBN 978-1-56639-629-5, p. 41.
  3. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 64. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. ↑ Roberts (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). p. 33.
  5. ↑ Campbell-Evans, Cecelia (2014) "Time heals all (Paragons) wounds", Jamaica Observer, 10 November 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014

External links

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