Keith ‘Slim’ Smith

 Born in 1948 Keith ‘Slim’ Smith is rightly regarded by many as one of Jamaica’s greatest singers. His voice was soft yet full of passion and soul. He first came to real prominence as a founding member and lead vocalist of The Techniques, a harmony quartet that also included Winston Riley, Franklyn White, and Frederick Waite They regularly performed at Edward Seaga's Chocomo Lawn club, where they were spotted by talent scouts from Columbia Records, who released their first single "No One" produced by Byron Lee. In 1965 they were introduced to producer Duke Reid by singer Stranger Cole. Here they released "Don't Leave Me", "When You Are Wrong", "and many others for Reid’s Treasure Isle label. A year or so later Smith left The Techniques to try and forge a solo career but ended up forming The Uniques with White and Roy Shirley. The trio released a few singles in 1966 before disbanding, until late 1967 when Smith formed a new version of the group with Jimmy Riley and Lloyd Charmers. They débuted with "Watch This Sound", a cover version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth" and had a huge hit. This was then followed by a string of subsequent singles, many produced by Bunny Lee including “My Conversation”. The group's debut album release, “Absolutely The Uniques” was released by Trojan Records in 1969, although they broke up in the same year. Smith then commenced recording for Prince Buster and Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label as a solo artist and scored hits with "The New Boss", "Hip Hug" and "Rougher Yet", many of which were later compiled for the album “Born To Love”.

By 1972 personal problems led to him being detained, for a short time at Bellevue sanatorium. The year after, on 9^th October, whilst trying to gain entry to his parents' house, he broke a window, badly lacerating his arm and bled to death before he could receive treatment. His death stunned Jamaica and left the country mourning the loss of yet another great vocalist at a ridiculously young age. Despite the passing of time his enduring popularity has remained and resulted in the reissue of the bulk of his work including The Uniques “Absolutely Rock Steady” from late last year.