Horace Faith Explained

Horace Faith
Birth Name:Horace Smith
Birth Place:Jamaica
Instrument:Vocals
Genre:Reggae
Occupation:Singer
Years Active:1970s
Label:B&C, Trojan, A&M, DJM

Horace Faith (born Horace Smith, Jamaica) was a Jamaican reggae singer. He is best known for his cover of the Checkmates, Ltd. song, "Black Pearl", which reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in 1970.[1]

Released by Trojan Records (TR 7790), "Black Pearl" spent ten weeks on the UK Singles Chart in the latter half of 1970, peaking at number 13 in October that year.[1] Coincidentally, the original version of the song by Checkmates, Ltd., peaked at number 13 in the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.[2] The track was written by Irwin Levine, Phil Spector and Toni Wine.[3] The B-side of Faith's single was "Help Me Help Myself", which was written by Johnny Arthey and Phil Swern.[4] The single was released in the United States by Bell Records.[5]

"Black Pearl" subsequently appeared on numerous compilation albums.[3]

Faith's later recordings included the self-penned "I Can't Understand It", arranged by Richard Anthony Hewson and produced by Swern.[6]

Faith died on 7 March 2015.[7]

Discography

YearTitleRecord labelUK
1969"Spinning Wheel" B&C
1970"Black Pearl"Trojan13
"Susie Is Tomorrow"Trojan
1972"Shame and Scandal in the Family"A&M
1976"I Can't Understand It"DJM
1978"Rich Man Poor Man"Ultra
"Looking"Anansi
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
[8]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Roberts, David. 2006. British Hit Singles & Albums. 19th. Guinness World Records Limited . London. 1-904994-10-5. 193.
  2. Book: Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 7th. 2000.
  3. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t1234521|pure_url=yes}} Black Pearl]. AllMusic. 11 April 2012.
  4. Web site: Horace Faith – "Black Pearl" . Discogs. 11 April 2012.
  5. Web site: Horace Faith – "Black Pearl" . Toniwine.com . 11 April 2012 . 19 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110719080510/http://www.toniwine.com/faith.html . dead .
  6. Web site: Horace Faith – "I Can't Understand It" . NME. 11 April 2012.
  7. Web site: Lily Fierro . Bovine Ska and Rocksteady 4/8/2015: Horace Faith – LILY & GENEROSO 4EVER! . Lilyandgeneroso4ever.com . 2015-04-13 . 2016-05-22.
  8. Web site: Horace Faith – Discography . 45cat.com . 11 April 2012.