Biography Lone Ranger
By Djouls, Thursday 1 January 2004 at 10:54 :: Biography :: #282 :: rss
The Lone Ranger - Biography
From "Reggae - The Rough Guide - The Definitive Guide To Jamaican Music, From Ska Through Roots To Ragga" (Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton)
"Before Yellowman rose to dominate the early 1980s, the way was paved by the arguably more talented Lone Ranger (b. Anthony Waldron), who - along with Welton Irie, Ranking Joe, Nigger Kojak, Mikey Dread, Clint Eastwood and Ranking Toyan - negotiated the shift from the 'cultural' chants of the mid-1970s, as exemplified by Big Youth, to pure 1980s dancehall chat.
There were lines of continuity linking the new breed of deejays with the music's immediate past. Lone Ranger's first records, for instance, appeared on historically the most important of all jamaican labels, Studio One. His version of Slim Smith's rocksteady classic "Never Let Go" was "The Answer", which subsequently became the much-recorded rhythm's favoured title (as confirmed by a popular Channel One cut from U-Roy apostle, Ranking Trevor, called "Answer Me Question"). Other moderate successes came in the form of "Screw Gone A North Coast" (over Horace Andy's "Skylarking"), "Three Mile Skank" (the Sound Dimension's "Full Up") and, in the company of Welton Irie, "Chase Them Crazy" (Horace Andy's "Mr Bassie"). These Studio One 45s established him as a deejay of interest, but the real breaktrough came in 1980. Not only did Virgo Hi Fi, with which he was associated, win an award as the best sound system of the year in Jamaica, but he moved on to another producer, Alvin Ranglin, who gave the masked stranger his biggest hit to date, "Barnabas Collins" (GG). The lyrics were inspired by a vampire character from an american TV series called The Dark Shadows, but no character in the show ever had lines like:
Gal, out the candle, lock your door tight
Turn ya neck pon your right angle
Hedem the best in the business
Chew ya neck like a Wrigley's.
The disc reached #1 in both the Jamaican chart and the UK reggae one. This was soon followed by a return to Studio One, and hits which involved more humour, and were built around the various abstract "oinks", "bims" and "ribbits" that were to be associated with the men - and women - at the mike for the next couple of years.
The success of the new hits from Brentford Road - "Love Bump" (over Slim Smith's "Tougher Yet"), "Natty Chalwa" (the Gladiators' "Roots Natty Roots"), and "Tribute To Marley" (the Studio One cut of Derrick Harriott's "Solomon") - owed something to the new style of mixing that gave a brighter feel to the studio's seminal music, whether in the form of new 'versions' or re-releases of the originals that practically every other label was 'doing-over'. The Lone Ranger's other important hits included "Fort X" (also for Ranglin), with its approriate Western theme, and "Rose Marie" (for Winston Riley's Techniques label), "M16" and "Fist To Fist Days Done" (for Channel One), "Trod On" (for Ossie Thomas's Black Solidarity), and "Tribute To All Mothers" (for the US Absissa label, though over the Sly & Robbie rhythm used on Dennis Brown's "Hold On To What You've Got" hit). No performer was more responsible for ushering in the new era than the Lone Ranger, and his influence on a whole generation of deejays (particularly in the UK) was incalculable."
Lone Ranger would especially like to thanks the T.I.M.E.C. crew for their innovative work in spreading his music and tunes
More Lone Ranger articles on the web
[reggaecd] Anthony Waldron, the Lone Ranger, versioned some of Studio One toughest riddims on two essential albums for Coxsone Dodd in the early 80s. He was one of Virgo Hi-Fi sound system's best deejays, but the release of the Alvin Ranglin album 'Barnabas Collins' established him as the major deejay of the time. Sessions for producer Niney and Winston Riley proved almost as popular.
[centrohd] Born Anthony Waldron, the Lone Ranger was one of the most lyrically inventive late '70s DJs, with a considerable influence on the British school of MCing. Waldron spent a large proportion of his formative years in the UK, which perhaps accounted for his radically different stance, and, like so many others, he began his own recording career at Studio One. Welton Irie partnered him at first, but he soon graduated to working solo, setting himself loose on several classic Studio One rhythms, after which he became virtually unstoppable. His version of Slim Smith's seminal "Rougher Yet", re-titled "Love Bump", was a major success. So too his reading of Slim Smith's "Never Let Go", a version known as "The Answer", which has become more famous than the original. As top DJ for Kingston's Virgo Sound, he kept up appearances in the dance halls and Virgo Hi Fi were voted the top sound of 1980. His recordings for Alvin GG Ranglin assured his legendary status. "Barnabas Collins" (about a vampire show on television) contained the immortal line: 'chew ya neck like a Wrigley's', and was a UK reggae chart number 1 in 1980. His additional work for Winston Riley and Channel One, which included the memorable "M-16", proved almost as popular. His tour of the UK that year reiterated that he could do it on stage as well as on record and for the sound systems. Any performer who could deliver priceless lyrics such as 'Lightning clap and thunder roll... Noah at the ark control', would always be guaranteed a receptive audience. His repertoire of strange voices, 'oinks' and 'ribbits', were widely imitated. Ranger recorded sparingly, sometimes branching out in keeping with other DJs into self-production, and his catalogue has always been assembled with style, class and a dash of great humour.
[bigupradio] Anthony Waldron a.k.a. 'Lone Ranger' was born in Kingston Jamaica. He migrated to England during the 1960's and returned to Jamaica in 1971. During 1974 he embarked on a DJs career by working as a Disc-Jockey for a sound system located in Dunkirk. This was the period when Jamaica's music style depended on the cultural and what was called Rub-a-Dub style. It was also during this period that DJs music took its greatest leap into Jamaica's music market. Lone Ranger had become one of the most versatile sound system DJs in Jamaica. Between the year 1976 & 1979 while working for the Soul to Soul Sound System he received the honour of being selected the number one DJ during this period and made a couple of appearances on sun splash concerts.
After many successes as a Sound System DJ and with a few good hit records to his credit, Lone Ranger was not satisfied with his record producers. That decision lead him to Mr. Dodd of Studio One Records where he has done his best work to date, and has remained the public's favorite DJ.
[allmusic] Borrowing his stage name from the popular TV Western hero of the same name, the Lone Ranger was one of Jamaica's most influential early dancehall DJs. He helped pioneer a newly rhythmic, on-the-beat rhyming style that led DJ toasting into the modern age, and punctuated his lyrics with bizarre exclamations and sound effects ("bim" and "ribbit" were his favorites) that made him perhaps the most imaginative stylist of his time. The Lone Ranger was born Anthony Waldron and spent a good portion of his childhood in the U.K., later moving to Kingston. He first recorded in tandem with Welton Irie at Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's famed Studio One, but soon went solo, toasting over the rhythm tracks of past Studio One hits from the rocksteady and roots reggae eras. He also became the top DJ for the Virgo Hi Fi Sound System, resulting in its being voted the top sound system in Jamaica in 1980. The Lone Ranger's breakout hit was "Love Bump," a Dodd-produced version of the rhythm from Slim Smith's "Rougher Yet". His signature song, however, was "Barnabas Collins", an ode to the vampiric main character of the TV series Dark Shadows. Produced by Alvin "GG" Ranglin, "Barnabas Collins" was a massive hit in 1980, topping charts in both Jamaica and the U.K. An album of the same name (aka "Barnabas in Collins Wood") followed on Ranglin's label, and established him as one of the top recording DJs of the time. Over the next two years, the Lone Ranger recorded prolifically for Studio One, issuing albums like "On the Other Side of Dub", "Badda Dan Dem", and what many regarded as his strongest LP, "M-16". "M-16" featured further hits in the title track, "Natty Burial", and "Fist to Fist". He also recorded with other producers, including Channel One's Winston Riley (1981's "Rosemarie") and himself, in tandem with Clive Jarrett (1982's "Hi Yo Silver Away"). With the ascent of Yellowman and the recording debuts of other prominent early DJs (Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales, Charlie Chaplin, etc.), the Lone Ranger found his popularity challenged; he also found some of his signature gimmicks appropriated by imitators. After his initial burst of activity, his pace had slowed considerably by the mid-'80s. He cut another album, "DJ Daddy", for Winston Riley in 1984, and followed it with "Learn to Drive", a low-profile album for Bebo Phillips' label, in 1985.
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