Dandy Livingstone

Kingston to London

Robert Livingstone Thompson was born in Kingston in 1943 and moved to London at 15 to live with his mother. His first records were for Carnival Records as Sugar and Dandy, a duo he created by double-tracking his own voice. "What a Life" sold 25,000 copies, and he later performed the duo live with Roy Smith and then Tito "Sugar" Simon.

"Rudy, a Message to You"

In 1967 he recorded "Rudy, a Message to You" for the Ska Beat label, a rocksteady warning to rude boys to stop fighting, with trombone by Rico Rodriguez. The Specials' 1979 cover, again with Rico, made the song widely known and it became part of the 2 Tone repertoire.

Trojan, Down Town and production

Signed to Trojan in 1968, he ran the Down Town and J-Dan subsidiary labels as both artist and producer. "Reggae in Your Jeggae" (1969) was credited to Dandy and the Israelites. He produced Tony Tribe's 1969 version of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine," a minor UK hit that preceded UB40's number one by 14 years.

Chart hits

"Suzanne Beware of the Devil" reached No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart in 1972 and "Big City" reached No. 26 in 1973. Both were issued by Trojan and brought his London-made reggae to British pop radio. He spent a period back in Jamaica in the 1970s, resurfaced in 1973 with "Black Star" on Mooncrest, and later returned to the UK. His work as a UK-based Jamaican artist and producer tied the Kingston sound to the London record business that Trojan built in the late 1960s.