Bobby Aitken is a Cuban-born Jamaican and singer who had a string of hits in Jamaica in the 1960s and led the band The Carib Beats.
Biography
Aitken is the brother of
Laurel Aitken, and recorded in the early 1960s for
Record producer King Edwards.
[Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2003) The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn., Rough Guides, , p. 43, 83] He had hits in the
ska era of the 1960s with singles such as "Never Never" (1962, Blue Beat), "Baby Baby" (1962,
Island Records), "Don't Leave Me", "I've Told You", and "It Takes a Friend" (all 1963), "Jericho" and "Rolling Stone" (1964), "Rain Came Tumbling Down" (1965), "Thunderball" and "Shame & Scandal" (1966), and "What a Fool" (1967).
[Thompson, Dave (2002) Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, ] Aitken also led the band The Carib Beats, who recorded for J.J. Johnson,
Bunny Lee, Joe Gibbs, Ewan McDermott, and
Clancy Eccles.
The Carib Beats disbanded in the mid-1960s, with Aitken becoming more involved with his church.
[Katz, David (2000) People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Payback Press, , p.45, 115] Aitken has also been involved in the music tuition of the younger members of the congregation of his church, including Carlton "Santa" Davis, who went on to become one of the most prominent Jamaican drummers of the 1970s.
He is the father of rising singer Debbi Verbz.
Aitken was one of the top session musicians of the rocksteady era, and his productions from this era were collected together on the album Bobby Aitken Presents Rock Steady Original & Red Hot, released by Next Step Records.
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