Byron Lee and Nathaniel Mayer RIP

The Vinyl Word says goodbye to two more artists.

Byron Lee, who has died at the age of 73, was one of the best known and most prolific artists of the ska era. His career began in the 1959s before the ska era began and encompassed other Caribbean musical forms including mento, calypso, soca and jump up. With his band the Dragonaires he recorded literally dozens of albums and singles and backed numerous ska and rocksteady acts including Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, Millie Small, the Maytals and Ken Boothe. He first recorded for future Jamaican prime minister Edward Seaga's WIRL label, which he later bought and renamed Dynamic Sounds, but his records also appeared in the UK on Atlantic and Parlophone (pictured is one of his Atlantic LPs which, strangely, isn't listed in the Rare Record guide). In later years Byron focused on the soca and mas styles of Trinidad but the Dragonaires continued to be a popular band throughout the West Indies. Coming so soon after the deaths of Alton Ellis and Roy Shirley it seems that we are losing the ska greats with increasing frequency. Farewell Byron.

Nathaniel Mayer was a fairly obscure R and B singer who had a US hit in 1962 with Village of Love on the Fortune label with his backing group the Fabulous Twilights. After a couple of less successful singles he dropped out of sight before making a belated comeback a few years ago, including impressive appearances at the Ponderosa Stomp. He was a pretty wild live performer and recorded an album for Fat Possum in 2004 followed by a further album released last year.