Sad news this week on the demise of one of the true greats of music, Alton Ellis.
The word legend is bandied around far too lavishly, and in most cases is utterly unwarranted.
But Alton lived up to the accolade in every way, as his many fans in Oxford will vouch. As the man who pretty much invented rocksteady he was the godfather of ska, reggae — and everything since.
In Jamaica he was bigger than royalty, and his first date in Oxford last year saw people from all communities, ages and walks of life crammed into the Zodiac — where we danced like epileptic hares to a man whose voice sounded even better than it had 40 years before.
Alton was visibly moved by the show of love from the crowd and told us after that it had been one of his best nights in this country. The gig was one of the last at the old Zodiac, and by comment consent, one of the best.
The man who brought Alton to Oxford, ska missionary Aidan Larkin said: "I'm devastated. Alton was my all-time favourite Jamaican singer. He was Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and Frank Sinatra rolled into one. He was one of the nicest people I've met in the industy and the warmth he generated was unlike anything I've ever seen."
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