![]() ![]() In addition, the Dragonaires were renamed as 'The Ska Kings' on the album. Further, Atlantic Records tried to push the album Jamaican Ska by using house producer and sound engineer Tom Dowd, who produced all of Aretha Franklin's greatest singles, to produce the album. The band also targeted the international rocksteady market with albums of mainly cover versions such as Rock Steady Beat and Rock Steady '67. Lee's relationship with Atlantic Records (he acted as head of distribution for the US company in Jamaica) led to the label releasing Dragonaires records in the US, including two albums timed to capitalise on interest generated from the World's Fair performances, Jump Up and Jamaican Ska (on which the Dragonaires backed the likes of The Blues Busters, The Charmers, The Maytals, Stranger Cole, Ken Boothe, and Patsy Todd). Also the band contributed the instrumental part of Mighty Sparrow's recording of Only A Fool in 1966. Realising that their appeal to ska crowds was diminishing, Lee took the band in a new direction, incorporating calypso and touring Trinidad & Tobago in 19. ![]() ![]() The trip was not a great success, with the Dragonaires' 'uptown' musicians not fitting in with the other 'downtown' artists. The band received another major boost when they were selected by Seaga, then the island's head of Social Welfare and Economic Development, in 1964 to travel to the New York World's Fair and perform as a backing band for a showcase of Jamaican talent, including Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, and Millie Small. In 1964, the band was featured in a program called “This is Ska!” alongside Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, and Toots and the Maytals. The band performed several songs in the film, although the recordings were actually made by guitarist Ernest Ranglin. ![]() In 1961, the band received a huge break when they were cast as the hotel band in the first James Bond film, Dr. Lee and Seaga both realised that ska was the music to provide Jamaica with a musical identity that could break the domination of American R&B, and the Dragonaires became one of the major ska bands of the early 1960s, releasing singles such as 'Fireflies', 'Mash! Mr Lee', 'Joy Ride', and a ska version of 'Over the Rainbow', both under their own name, and as The Ska Kings. The single was released on the Dragonaire's own Dragon's Breath label in Jamaica, and was the second release on the Blue Beat label in the United Kingdom, and was unusual for a Jamaican single as it featured an electric organ and a Fenderbass which Lee had purchased during a visit to the United States - the first such instruments ever seen on the island. The band recorded their debut single, 'Dumplin's', in 1959 at the WIRL studios owned by future Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who would also become the band's manager. ![]()
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