It was number five in Germany and hit the top spot on the charts in Ireland. Back in 1964, the hit song also enjoyed chart success reaching the number two position on the UK singles, US Billboard Hot 100, as well as in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Millie Small's version of My Boy Lollipop is considered the first commercially successful international ska song, and has sold over six million records worldwide. I found this tape which had the original version of My Boy Lollipop and I said, 'That's the song we should do,' so it was really, really lucky that I found the tape,” Blackwell was quoted as saying. But I'd make a copy of each one on a reel-to-reel tape, it was before cassettes, and when I brought Millie over to England, I sat down trying to work out if we can find a song for her. One of these records was the original version of My Boy Lollipop. “I would go to New York now and again and buy records and sell them to the sound system guys in Jamaica. In a previous interview, Blackwell said he had purchased the original record in 1959 and found it in his archives in 1963 and decided to do a remake. It was Island Records head honcho Chris Blackwell who first heard Gaye's version and decided to record Small, who was then a teenager, but not before changing the title, and with the help of music great Ernie Ranglin, arranging the track to the increasingly popular ska beat. It was first recorded in New York in 1956 by Barbie Gaye. My Boy Lollipop is a cover of My Girl Lollipop, originally written by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, and credited to Spencer, Morris Levy, and Johnny Roberts. However, a lesser known fact is that the ska-flavoured song is a cover. NO history of Jamaican popular music is complete without the inclusion of the 1964 smash hit My Boy Lollipop by Millie Small, and the impact it had in taking the music to international ears. It will look at songs covered by Jamaican artistes which became hits.
By the way, Rod Stewart has never claimed to have played that solo, in fact he has said it was me in the Bob Marley life story Catch A Fire." Drums were played by Jon Hiseman who replaced Ginger Baker in Graham Bond Organization and also was in the seminal UK unit Colosseum as well as playing sessions for Andrew Lloyd-Webber musicals.īritish reggae DJ David Rodigan has stated that watching Millie Small perform the song at the Ready Steady Go! TV show as a school boy initiated his life-long passion for Jamaican music.Today, the Jamaica Observer's Entertainment Desk begins a 30-part feature titled Cover Me Good. Several people have claimed to have played the harmonica break but I can promise you it was me, and it was all recorded in London.
I played harmonica and Ernest Ranglin played a black Gibson. Hogman told us: "The backing for 'My Boy Lollypop' was recorded live in the studio. A persistent rumor claims the not yet famous Rod Stewart performed the harmonica solo on the recording Contrary to legend, the harmonica player was not Rod Stewart but Pete Hogman of The Pete Hogman Blues Band and Hoggie & The Sharpetones. The record's arrangement is credited to Ernest Ranglin, who also plays guitar on the recording. With over seven million copies sold, it remains one of the best-selling reggae/ska hits. "My Boy Lollipop" was the first record to help Blackwell's Jamaican label, Island Records, make millions. It also went to #1 in Ireland and #2 in the United States. Millie's version was recorded in a ska/bluebeat-style, and became her breakthrough blockbuster hit in Britain, reaching #2. The song was discovered by Chris Blackwell, who was trying to find songs for Millie Small to record. It is most famous, however, for the 1964 recording by Jamaican singer Millie Small which is considered the first international ska hit. It was originally recorded by the American singer Barbie Gaye and became a minor Rhythm & Blues hit in late 1956, spelled " My Boy Lollypop" on the original 78 record label. "My Boy Lollipop" is a song written in the mid-1950s and usually credited to Robert Spencer, Morris Levy and Johnny Roberts.