Black Slate

Black Slate

Black Slate are a reggae group from the United Kingdom who form in 1974 and remain active. The line-up includes Elroy Bailey, Jezz Braide, Horace Burke, Cliff Charles, Jackie Davis, Desmond Mahoney, Anthony Brightly, Keith Drummond, Chris Hansen and Cledwyn Rogers.

Career

The group includes musicians from England, Jamaica and Anguilla. Early in their career they back Jamaican singers including Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe and Dennis Brown on UK appearances. Their first chart success as a band comes in 1976 with “Sticks Man”, an anti-mugging song that also crosses over into the Dutch and Flemish charts after gaining popularity in Antwerp discothèques. They also appear alongside Disco Reggae Band on a release credited to Disco Reggae Band & Black Slate.

Black Slate tour the UK for the first time in 1978 and establish their own TCD label. On that label they have a minor hit with “Mind Your Motion”. In 1980 their Rastafarian song “Amigo” is picked up by Ensign Records and reaches number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.

Albums and later work

In 1981 they release the dub album Ogima, which is “Amigo” spelled backwards. “Boom Boom” follows and also becomes a hit, though less successfully. The next year they release Sirens In The City on Ensign, and they issue two further albums in 1982 and 1985.

After a ten-year hiatus, the band release the EP World Citizen in 2013. The recording features original founding members Anthony Brightly, Chris Hanson, Desmond Mahoney and vocalist Jesse Brade. They also work on a later album, Now And Then, for TCD Records.