Sugar Belly Explained

Sugar Belly
Birth Name:William Walker
Background:non_vocal_instrumentalist
Origin:Kingston, Jamaica
Instrument:Bamboo sax, vocals, bamboo fife
Genre:Jamaican mentoreggae, calypso
Occupation:Musician
Label:Studio One, Port-O-Jam, Techniques, others

Sugar Belly (William Walker) was a Jamaican mento musician in the mid 20th century. Sugar Belly's music was distinctive for his use of a homemade bamboo saxophone, as well as the bamboo fife.[1] His fine playing can be heard on many mento recordings of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as his 1970s Studio One instrumental, solo reggae album entitled Sugar Merengue. There were other bamboo sax players in Jamaica, including Wilbert Stephenson, who recorded extensively with Chin's Calypso Quartet in the 1950s.

Discography

Albums

On top of his mento session work for artists including Count Lasher, around twenty Sugar Belly mento and reggae singles were issued in Jamaica on the Port-O-Jam, High Note, Techniques, Studio One, Calypso Joe, and Love Bond labels.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Wayne Chen.Reggae routes: the story of Jamaican music. Temple University Press, 1998., https://books.google.com/books?id=felkD8CI97sC&dq=sugar+belly+mento&pg=PA14