Alton Ellis
Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter
A NUMBER of popular Jamaican entertainers have built their careers by covering other people's hits. Some see them as vocal geniuses, others as lazy followers. However, what is rarely considered is the legal backlash.
Carlton 'Ghost' Hylton, came to the forefront in 1989 when he covered Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly. Since then, Ghost has done a plethora of covers. He says it is easier for a new artiste to make his mark by doing over a hit.
"I didn't have a choice about it then. As a young artiste who did want to buss, no one didn't want to hear your song. They would think it was a flop. So you had to sing songs that the producers wanted to hear and that was singing over people song, and that was how you would get on the riddim," he said.
Ghost now sees things differently. "It's when I check back myself and I look at all my friends who write and I see where them reach and I think about my youths and the pension, I say to myself 'what if all those songs that I was doing from long time was mine?' I would be well set. So is that time that I draw up my sleeve and start do mine dem," he said.
Ghost now limits his cover songs, though it has nothing to do with the notion that artistes who do cover songs are not respected.
"That's just crap. I don't see that in my world. I see man like Dennis Brown and Sanchez cover other people songs and the people still love them. It's just all about the way that you deal with your fans. The music has a vibe in the dancehall and people love it," he said.
In fact, he said he has received encouragement from some of the original singers. He was also quick to note that he credits the original artistes when he does over their songs.
"When I did Bodyguard, Paul Simon called and said he loved what I did to it," he said. "Celine Dion also called and said she liked the cover to Love You More, but she was saying that I called it the wrong name on my album," Ghost said. He called it Waiting for You.
Ghost recently released Moonshine, which he said was received well by fans and is working on another album with more originals than covers.
Singer Da'Ville says he too learnt that doing only covers is not the way to go to be truly successful. "You should try to put in a little originals as well. When you get old there will be a little performance royalties for you to live off, so you need to think about that when you do a lot of covers," he said.
When asked if upcoming artistes chose the easy way into the industry by doing covers, Da'Ville said "it's not that it's easier. But you just have to find your niche and continue in that vein if it works for you. Look at Sanchez; when he started he did covers and for most of his career he did covers and waited until he established himself to start doing originals".
Da'Ville started singing professionally in 1992 as the lead singer of ARP. He left the group and in 2000 released his first solo song, Love Will Show Me The Way. Since then, Da'Ville has done cover versions of Bryan Adams' In Heaven, Smokey Robinson's Cruisin', and All My Life, originally by Linda Ronstadt featuring Aaron Neville.
"And you know that some people don't even know that In Heaven is a cover, they think it's mine? And it is one of my biggest hits and it has them going in Japan right now," he said. However, he said "if you intend to stick to cover music, to most people you are not really an artiste until you can do something original."
Da'Ville says he is not known for doing more covers than originals. "I would say that it is half and half. People know me for my music and for the covers. And right now if it's out of 100 per cent, I would say about 15 per cent of my work are covers." Some of Da'Ville's own songs are Hey Bay, Can't Get Over You, The One For Me and Jump Off.
The veterans, whose songs newer artistes sometimes cover, often fall into the background. For them life is sometimes less glamorous. More often than not a song is done without their permission and the legal woes begin.
Wayne Lonesome has this problem. Lonesome arrived on the Jamaican dancehall scene in the early '90s, though he didn't manage to make much of a mark here. He therefore chose Europe as his target market.
After signing a one-time recording deal with a British producer, Lonesome's songs were released at least three other times on projects he knew nothing about. "I will see songs with other people featuring me and it is my song but just a different mix. That cannot be, when there was no agreement between myself and those people. And to make things worse I am getting no money from this kind of thing," he said.
Lonesome's songs include Dem Nuh Know Me and Who Wan Seek War.
Alton Ellis, on the other hand, says his problems are bitter-sweet. His song I'm Still In Love, recorded in 1967, resurfaced in 2004 when Sean Paul and Sasha did a cover of it. "I am proud of it and happy. Actually, it goes further than that; it's a spiritual thing. It's a project that I always believed in," he said.
"But the reward is still tied up. I haven't collected for that song yet. The money was paid to a publisher in London and there was a disagreement between them and Studio One and the money is frozen in the account. Frankly, I am hoping that they can come to some agreement," Ellis said.
Ellis says the real problem with doing over someone's song arises when there is no credit given. "If you ask permission that would be respectful and nice, but what matters is that I still get paid. If not, you have to think about getting lawyers with money that you didn't have in the beginning," he said.
"Take for example Uptown Top Rankin; the riddim track that it was on was mine. All the producer did was subtract my voice from I'm Still In Love and update it. I wouldn't expect to get all the money from that, because it wasn't my voice on Uptown Top Rankin, but at least 50 per cent of it is mine. The producer told the courts in London that it was a Jamaican folk song so no one was entitled to it, but if that's the case, why was he paid?" Ellis demanded.
Ellis had a few words of advice for artistes who choose cover versions as their only source of income. "You should never build your career's foundation on another person's songs. You should have your own song. You should have something where you can share your voice, your emotions and where your true talent comes out in the song. It is not just about the song, but about the person," he said.
Although Bob Andy agreed that the original songwriters were entitled to the proceeds of covers, he realises that not everyone has the same talent.
"As a songwriter I realise that not everyone is a singer or songwriter. Some people can sing and not write, some people can write and not sing. Each individual is unique, so if covering works for you and you are fortunate enough to be accepted by a fan base, then, if it's not broke, don't fix it," Andy said.
"Some people use it to enhance or revive their careers. Take for example, Eric Clapton, the blues and rock singer. His career sort of died down, then he used Bob's I Shot the Sheriff and he was at the top of the charts again."
Andy says in the late 90s there were as many as 60 covers of his songs, including Fire Burning, covered by Marcia Griffiths and Best Kept Lover, covered by Tajmahal. "As long as they don't exploit your music, everything is okay. But then it is the music business and that will always be around," he said.
Some music lovers still hold steadfast to the view that artistes who primarily do covers simply piggyback their way to fame.
Brendon Swaby says "I think it shows some talent. They find a song, sing it over and twist it in their own way. But it seems their creativity takes some time to develop, because they do a lot of covers and very few originals".
Denecia Williams says "they have talent voice-wise, but I just think the writers should sue them. They do not have to write all their songs but they should try to be original. I hate Ghost... I think a lot of people share my opinion. I have never heard Ghost perform an original. They (artistes) can cover songs, but they should do it in limited volumes".
Rory Black was in agreement. "I do not think they are talented artistes; they just can sing. They can't write songs. They are not creative enough to produce something of their own. To sing over somebody's song is like you are trying to get a hype from that artiste's career. For example Celine Dion has a hit song that everybody loves and Ghost sings it over to get a hype. Artistes who write their own songs and can make a significant impact in the music market, I consider them truly talented," Black said.
