By Richard Burnett for Curtains Up
@bugsburnett
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the “Queen of Reggae” Marcia Griffiths perform live over the past 25 years, in Jamaica and abroad. During that time I’ve also interviewed her a few times, but this last year heard for the first time a story from reggae historian Roger Steffens that it was Marcia Griffiths who recorded all the back-up vocals on Bob Marley’s landmark album Exodus, which Time magazine named the best album of the 20th century.
Story goes Rita Marley – who joined the vocal trio I-Three with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt before they became the back-up vocalists for The Wailers – was upset that Bob had written and recorded the song Turn Your Lights Down Low on the Exodus album for his girlfriend Cindy Breakspeare who had just been crowned Miss World 1976. Rita refused to sing on the album and Judy Mowatt joined her in solidarity. So, Steffens says, Griffiths triple-tracked the back-up vocals (listen to the Steffens interview here)
But in 2003, Marcia told me, “Bob defended us in our personal and professional lives. He made sure everyone treated us like queens. He told us we were three angels. He said we should not use our lips for kissing, just for singing. He was our brother, our father, our friend.”
Griffiths, the woman whom Bob Marley loved like a sister, has been working in the showbiz trenches for 50 years. Now 64, she was signed to reggae legend Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label when she was just 14, after being spotted performing onstage with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. She scored her first Number One record four years later with Feel Like Jumping before forming I-Three with Rita Marley and Judy Mowatt.
In other words, Griffiths blazed a trail for women in reggae. Her 1989 solo hit Electric Boogie reached number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remains the all-time highest-selling single by a female reggae singer. She also scored a million-seller with her 1970 Motown album Young, Gifted and Black, then worked with Bob Andy in the group Bob and Marcia until I-Three signed on as Bob Marley’s backup singers in 1974.
“Promoters and producers did as they liked – made passes at you and ripped you off at the same time,” Marcia told me in 2007. “But I-Three were definitely protected when we were with Bob [Marley] … The business used to be male-dominated. Right now it’s 50-50, maybe even 60-40. The advice I give women performers all the time is, ‘Get a good manager. Never as a woman [performer] deal with the promoter.’ That goes for everyone, but especially women.”
Surely that means reggae is still an old boys’ club?
“I know a few women managers who are real tough,” Griffiths replied. “Tougher than some of the guys!”
But despite her solo success, Marcia Griffiths will forever be linked with Bob Marley.
In fact, in our first interview back in 1998, Marcia told me about the night she became overwhelmed with nausea onstage during The Wailers 1979 European tour. At the time she was seven-months pregnant.
“We had done some hectic dancing during Lively Up Yourself, Bob was ad-libbing about mothers and children and the next song was No Woman, No Cry,” Griffiths explained. “By that time I knew I was sick. I remember the concert hall getting very dark and I grabbed sister Rita’s dress and tried to whisper I was going to faint.”
Suddenly, Bob Marley, who didn’t know Griffiths was sick, touched her neck and guided her centre stage.
“Something moved him to come to me. It was amazing because I was totally rejuvenated. I’ll never forget it for as long as I live.”
Marcia Griffiths co-headlines at the 2014 edition of the Montreal International Reggae Festival, which runs Aug 15-17 at the Jacques Cartier Pier in the Old Port of Montral. Griffiths performs on Aug. 17. Other festival performers include Luciano, Percy Sledge, Alison Hinds, I-Octane, Sean Paul, Frankie Paul, Maxi Priest, Etana and Sanchez. Click here for the official reggae festival website, and here for the official Marcia Griffiths website.
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