Philip Fraser, Dominic, Screechy Joe, Johnny Nice (Ghetto Splash '94)

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Phillip Fraser was a mainstay of the roots reggae scene that centred around the Greenwich Town area of Kingston in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He played a central role in the development of Bertram Brown's Freedom Sounds and Errol Don Mais' Roots Tradition labels, singing classic cultural and love themed singles including You're No Good, Come Ethiopians and Mr Wicked Man. Yet, some of the Greenwich Town singers like Rod Taylor and Earl Zero left Jamaica and have been fairly prolific abroad, the distinctive voiced Rastaman has preferred to stay in Kingston and record for his own Razor Sound label. Angus Taylor spoke to this crucial veteran about his long and distinguished career in music and the neighbourhood that he helped bring to fame...

You were born in Whitfield Town but you are associated with Greenwich Town/Farm area.
I was born in Whitfield Town but is in Greenwich Farm I grew up. I was just born in Whitfield Town and never even stayed there. I spent my whole life in Greenwich Farm so really I was born there but officially I was born in Whitfield Town. I was just a child so I never really understood why we moved but in those times my family never really owned a place so they had to move up and down.

What was your favourite sound system?
My favourite sound system was one from Greenwich Town named Echo Vibrations because that was the sound where we all started. Peter Ranking, General Lucky, Phillip Fraser, Michigan and Smiley; that was our sound before we launched out and started singing for any other. Echo Vibration used to play in Greenwich Town every Wednesday and that was the first sound I ever saw that used to play in the day. Pure night sounds used to play and it was the first sound that had day sessions.

Who influenced you to embrace Rastafari?
Well, to be honest listening to the music when we were small like Bob Marley and Burning Spear, talking about Africa and things like that. Then we grew up in an environment where it was pure Rasta that surrounded us as little youths, smoking pipes, cooking Ital food, and we would sit down and read our bibles every day - it was how inspiration came. We came to realize about His Imperial Majesty, how Africa was for all of us and these things. So you understand it was an inborn thing but we were around people that made it come out more. We were around elders like a brethren named I-Eye whose son used to cook his food on a stove with kinds of fruits which he used to put on top of his bamboo house. His son used to cook his food with enough pepper and herbs when you used to eat that food I'm telling you! He was one of the influences, seeing his life, seeing Rastafari and seeing him as a dreadlock so when we read the bible and saw certain things our little circle just grew up saying, "Yes Rasta!" because it was the right living. So in the music, we started singing certain tunes from the bible and it went from there...

What was the first tune you recorded?
It was a song named This Time Won't Be Like The Last Time which was recorded by ourselves - Freedom Sounds my little brethren [Bertram Brown]. A guy named Tony Mack who was around Bunny Lee, a bigger man than us, he knew the business and showed us how we could do it. The Soul Syndicate band was in Greenwich Farm at the time because Chinna [Smith] and all those guys used to rehearse on 9th Street. Phillip FraserWhile they were rehearsing Tony Mack said we could go to the studio, take some money and buy a tape because we didn't even know that. So when he told us Mr Brown was working so he became the producer, bought the tape and booked the studio time so we and Soul Syndicate went to Dynamic Studios. I recorded This Time..., Single Man, Mr Blue Bird and we started working on coming up with an album. That was how the Freedom Sounds label started.

Are there any plans for more music in the works?
Definitely. I'm still doing some recording right now. I put out an album No Escape with my son Ras Fraser Junior who is a very cultured little youth coming on. He has a couple of songs out there playing and things. Also, there's a compilation with me and him, father and son, Roots Man Time. We have seven tracks each. My next project is keeping myself healthy, still singing. I did a show in New York on Christmas Eve which Jah Life put on as a vintage thing with Big Youth and couple more artists like that. For the future, I'm not running down this thing because the music alone shall live, but what I see going on is pure rat race. So I just keep myself healthy, fresh, fit and nice, still doing my private recording in my own studio. I just recorded a song with my son for a radio station in Canada and they sent it on to a radio station in England where it is getting some good play.