As the 30th anniversary of his RuffCompany Records approaches, veteran deejay General Smiley is preparing a series of new releases from the California-based label. ‘Fever Riddim’, a compilation album, kicked off activities in April.
It contains 15 songs on the classic ‘Fever ‘Riddim’, recorded at Studio One during the early 1970s. One of the tracks is ‘Mango Season’, done by Papa Michigan with whom he formed the hitmaking duo, Papa Michigan and General Smiley.
He contributes ‘Mama Pray’ to the album, while Ken Serious does ‘Today for You Tomorrow for Me’, with Menny Moore doing ‘Debate’.
“Di company is up and running with more strength so we can re-release (projects) on a wider scale. A lot of di things we started in LA, we’ve been trying to put dem on all platforms,” General Smiley explained.
‘Let’s Dance’, another compilation album, is expected to be released by late summer. It will have songs by heavy hitters such as Mykal Rose and Luciano, as well as emerging artists.
Born Errol Bennett, General Smiley is from the Maxfield Avenue area of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, which has produced a flurry of roots artists such as Linval Thompson, Michael Palmer and Michael Prophet.
Like those artists and Papa Michigan, he cut his teeth on sound systems before launching his recording career. Their first hit song was ‘Rub A Dub Style’ for Studio One in 1979, followed one year later by ‘Nice up The Dance’, also produced by that legendary label.
