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| Graeme Mathieson & Chris Flanagan's excellent documentary series Sounds & Pressure: Reggae In A Foreign Land screens on TVO on Sunday at 9 pm. |
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| A bewitching thrift shop discovery leads Toronto reggae fan Chris Flanagan on an all-consuming quest to locate the mysterious singer. |
| "Jamaican Fruit of African Roots is the lost vocal cut to one of King Tubby's most dramatic and devastating dubs from the 1970s. It was never released in Jamaica, but housed on an obscure compilation released only in Toronto in tiny quantities in the mid 70s. |
| This reissue – if you can call it that – is the culmination of a 10 year obsession to try and find out more about the song's enigmatic singer Sheila Rickards. It all started in a musty Canadian thrift store with the discovery of an incredible 10-cent record credited to "Shella Record". |
| The singer's voice was unlike anything I had ever heard in Reggae before and sparked an international quest to find the lost siren. Beginning in Toronto where the record was pressed by local label Monica's in the mid 70s, I quizzed producers, collectors and reggae artists, all of whom were as mystified as I was. |
| Traveling to Jamaica, I tracked down legendary producer Bunny " Striker" Lee who recorded the song in 1975 with a full line up of Aggrovators, some of the most talented musicians who ever worked on the island including Robbie Shakespeare, Carlton "Santa" Davis, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Tommy McCook, Vin Gordon, Bobby Ellis, Ansel Collins and others. - |
| Bunny revealed that Shella Record was in fact Sheila Rickards, a Greenwich Farm Jazz singer from the Mento era who began performing as a child with artists like Lennie Hibbert and Carlos Malcolm. |
| He had not seen her since she vanished in 1975 after they worked on this song at Harry Js and later voiced the track at King Tubby's infamous Drumillie Ave studio. - |
| Despite tracking down many of the musicians who played on the song, Jamaican Jazz artists from the era and even Sheila's family, Sheila's whereabouts remained a mystery. |
| Hearing rumours of her relocation to Los Angeles or New York, I headed to the States desperate to find out what happened to this
remarkable diva. Each clue proved to be a red herring leading to a dead
end. Now working with a private detective (and part-time ghost
hunter) I hope to have more answers soon. The search has been filmed
from the outset and will culminate in the documentary film Shella
Record, A Reggae Mystery." Chris Flanagan, Shella Records Toronto - |
