Laurel Aitken was born in 1927 in Cuba of mixed Cuban, Jamaican descent. At the age of eleven his family moved to Jamaica settling in West Kingston.
After an early career working for the Jamaican Tourist Board singing mento songs for visitors arriving at Kingston Harbour, he became a popular nightclub singer at the Glass Bucket Club. There his repertoire consisted of singing songs in the Nat King Cole/Louis Jordan style of that time before he incorporated the sounds of boogie, R&B and soul to his set.
In 1957 he cut the R&Bish "Roll, Jordan Roll.", but his big break came a year later with the release of the "Little Sheila"/"Boogie in my Bones" a double A sided single, which also happened to be the first single ever released on a new upstart label called Island Records and the first Jamaican popular music record to be released in the United Kingdom.. "Little Sheila" spent 11 weeks at #1 on the Jamaican charts, helping cement his popularity with Jamaican music fans.
Despite his growing rise in popularity in Jamaica in 1960 he decided to leave and move to England, settling in Brixton, London. His decision was based on the fact that throughout the 50's, wave after wave of Jamaican’s had left their home land to settle in post-W.W.II England, where job opportunities were promised for those who wanted them. With this influx of Jamaican immigrants came also a demand for Jamaican tastes in the UK and Laurel had been told that he could make it big overseas. Whilst in England he heard of a label that had been releasing bootlegs of unavailable Jamaican recordings to meet this new demand. Aitken was obviously outraged at this so sought and found the responsible parties. In a meeting with them he rightly expressed his displeasure and negotiations finally brought about the birth of a new label Blue Beat. He released some fifteen singles with the label before returning to Jamaica in 1963. Once back home he recorded for Duke Reid, with backing from The Skatalites on tracks such as "Zion" and "Weary Wanderer", but he soon returned to England were this time he released records with many various labels such as Pama, Ska Beat, Nu Beat, Direct Records, Doctor Bird and EMI Records. Among the many classic tracks he cut for these are "Fire in Mi Wire," "Bartender," "Jesse James," "Landlord and Tenants," "It's Too Late" and "Pussy Price” all of which led to a wider recognition outside of both Jamaica and the UK.
It is though in the UK where his position as one of ska's leading artists is revered the most and he gained a loyal following not only among the West Indian community, but also among mods, skinheads and other ska fans earning him the nicknames The Godfather of Ska, and later Boss Skinhead.
In late 1979 and early 1980 with the rise again in ska music thanks to the likes of 2 Tone Atkien again found popularity which saw him play with The English Beat and tour with the mod band Secret Affair, where he was backed by the punk/reggae band the Ruts! Towards the mid to late ‘80s he teamed up with British ska band Potato 5 and recorded several albums and singles and in the ‘90’s he performed with such diverse acts as Japan's Ska Flames, Germany's Busters and America's Toasters.
There is one thing with Laurel Aitken that can never be denied, he was never afraid to work. As ska music has rollercoasted in popularity over the years he has always been there ready and willing to perform and put on a great show and to keep the spirit of ska alive and he was performing concerts almost until his death from a heart attack in 2005. Prince Buster might be the best known ska artist much in the way that Bob Marley is the first name on most people’s lips when talking about reggae but throughout is long career he rightly earned that nickname as THE Godfather of Ska.
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