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previously in REGGAE:

  • Other Riddim Twins
  • The Story Of Dread and Fred
  • The History of Reggae Music

 

THE OTHER RIDDIM TWINS

by Pete Murder Tone

 
Wycliffe Johnson und Cleveland Browne, better known as Steely and Clevie, first came together
during sessions for Augustus Pablo at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio, working on Hugh Mundell's
"Africa Must Be Free" by 1983. Both had been keen students of the runnings at Studio One,
Tubbys, and Channel One. When they first played together in a proper session for what was to be
Mundells classic LP they were still in their early teens!
     

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 After stints with the Studio One Band, Youthman Promotions,
The Generation Gap and The Browne Bunch as individuals,
Steely and Clevie next came together as the house riddim
section at King Jammy's studio in 1986. Already established as
the ruler of the new ‘computerized’ digital sound with the
epochal Sleng Teng riddim, Steely And Clevie (alongside
engineer Bobby Digital and arranger Mikey Bennett) rapidly
took Jammy$ output to a whole new level, along the way
becoming the undisputed masters of the form.
     

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  • RiddimMethod
  • Kid Kameleon Blog
  • DJ Ripley Blog

Jammy$ posse ruled the dancehall scene with an iron fist in the latter half of the 80s. Steely and
Clevie built the now-classic digital rydims of this era largely with two battery-powered mini synths
(the digital Yamaha DX100 and Casio CZ101 for melodic and chordal parts, and the analogue
Yamaha CS01 for basslines) and an Oberheim DX drum machine (a unit that was initially derided as
the poor persons Linn drum but shown to be a potent weapon in the right hands – as Prince had
just aptly demonstrated on the Purple Rain LP). Steely and Clevie maintained a relentless pace,
cutting upwards of ten digital sides a week for Jammy, as well as somehow finding the time to
provide the backing for as many as 70% of the singles in the JA hit parade, for labels like Redman
International, Penthouse, Music Works, and Techniques.
   
 
_______YAMAHA CS01 		Name brand artists like Cocoa Tea, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie
McGregor and Frankie Paul all had a series of massive hits on the
duo’s riddims. They also launched the new crop of dancehall dons
like Admiral Bailey, Shabba Ranks, Cutty Ranks, Garnett Silk and
Ninjaman. By 1988 Bobby Digital, Mikey Bennett and Steely and
Clevie had all left to form their own labels.
     
 

Their names were still in charts all thru '90s, scoring a huge hit with their relick of Dawn Penn’s old
classic “No No No”, the result of a chance meeting with the singer on the street outside their
studio. In 2004 however, tragedy struck which made their plans take a nosedive.

In January 2004 Steely was charged with manslaughter after the vehicle he was driving hit and killed
student Shakara Harris as she tried to cross Constant Spring Road in Kingston. Both Steely and
Clevie were obviously deeply affected by this tragic death:

     

 

__Oberheim DX drummachine

"Mentally, we were not in the frame of mind for the
rhythm building in 2004. We want to build them with a
happy feel and we were not happy, so we took a break,"
Steely explained.

 

Late 2005 saw the duo return with a killer revival riddim “Sleepy
Dog” that saw them back in the charts. Clevie is now chairman of
the recording industry association of Jamaica.
   
 

Further links:

  • a CS01 in action: Dougie Conscious laying down a bassline
  • an original DX100 TV advertisement (via musicthing)