Phyllis Dillon

Phyllis Dillon (born 27 December 1944 Linstead, St. Catherine, † April 15, 2004 in Long Iceland, United States) was a Jamaican singer. It belonged in the 1960s to the first women who were successful in the Jamaican music business and was also called the "Queen of Rock Steady".

Life

Phyllis Dillon in 1944 - according to other sources 1948 or 1945 - Born in rural Linstead, where she spent her youth. There she gained her first musical experiences in school and church choirs, and later with her ​​first band, the Vulcans. At a gig in Kingston, she was discovered by guitarist Lyn Taitt, a session musician Duke Reid's Treasurer Isle label. Dillon Reid signed in 1965 and the following year she took produced by Reid Do not Stay Away on. The single was a resounding success in Jamaica and was Dillon's biggest hit. In the following years she brought with One Life to Live, The Love That a Woman Can Give a Man, Perfidia, rocksteady and Do not Touch My Tomato out more successful singles. Even with Alton Ellis ( Right Track ) and Hopeton Lewis ( Walk Through This World With Me and Love Was All We Had ) sung duets contributed to their popularity.

Because they wanted to do something other than music, she moved to New York in December 1967 in the United States to where she found a job at a bank after a while. In the early years, she returned twice a year back to Jamaica to record songs with Reid and perform in Kingston clubs. Also known as the Rocksteady reggae sound evolved, they took the change and remained successful. The mid-1970s, she retired from the music business and devoted herself entirely to her family. Only tried in the 1990s and she managed a comeback.

The early 2000s, she was diagnosed with cancer. She succumbed to her illness on 15 April 2004.

Discography (selection)

• Do not Stay Away ( Single, 1966)
• One Life to Live ( album, 2000, Creole Down Home Records)