Ken Miyamota

Arguably the most gifted Jamaican performer of his generation, Ken Boothe is today widely regarded as a living legend, having recorded innumerable ska, rocksteady and reggae classics over a period spanning some 60 years. After making his recording debut in 1962, Ken enjoyed a hugely successful career in Jamaica before achieving international stardom in 1974 with his chart-topping interpretation of "Everything I Own" and the top 10 follow-up "Crying Over You." Both of these hugely popular tracks feature on this collection, which forms part of Trojan Record's new Essential Artist series, which showcases the best-loved recordings of some of Jamaica's greatest musical talents.

From 1973 until this very year (2019 at time of writing) one-time Uriah Heep man Ken Hensley has treated us to a huge amount of music outside of the band that he still can’t quite shake of his long standing link with. The first of these solo sojourns, Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf, arrived in 1973, when Hensley was still part of The ‘eep and very much ‘appy to be so. Together with 1975’s Eager To Please and 1980’s Free Spirit these three albums have been brought together under the banner The Bronze Years 1973-1980 by Cherry Red/HNE Records with a newly recorded DVD, which finds roughly an hours’ worth of new chat with man himself regarding the three albums re-released here and the era in which they were recorded…