Icon: Marcia Griffiths - Feel like jumping after 40 years
published: Tuesday | May 15, 2007

Marcia Griffiths in performance. - Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

THE MUSIC scene in Jamaica was on the verge of international acceptance in 1967 when a young singer named Marcia Griffiths broke through with Feel Like Jumping, an uptempo song for producer Clement Dodd.

Forty years later, Griffiths is still making hit songs. She may be approaching 60 but she remains young at heart and can still rock with the youngest of them.

Recently, VP Records released Melody Life, a two-CD collection of 30 songs that tracks Griffiths' career to the days of Dodd's Studio One, to her time with producers Harry 'Harry J' Johnson, Lloyd Charmers and Sonia Pottinger in the 1970s.

Most of the second disc covers the 1990s when Griffiths' career enjoyed a renaissance at producer Donovan Germain's Penthouse Records.

Melody Life (the name of one of her hits at Studio One) is not just a tribute to Griffiths' staying power, but shows her refusal to be linked to a particular sound or era.

The Studio One songs reflect the party mood of post-Independence Jamaica. Her work with Pottinger is homage to the social impact Rastafarianism had on the country's popular culture during the 1970s, when Griffiths toured the world as a member of the I-Three, Bob Marley's backup group.

Rubbing shoulders

While most of her contemporaries were relegated to the oldies circuit in the 1990s, Griffiths was rubbing shoulders with the new wave of dancehall acts. With Germain at the helm, she had an energetic chart run, recording with Penthouse regulars like Buju Banton and Wayne Wonder.

Two collaborations from that period, Live On with Beres Hammond and Half Idiot (with Cutty Ranks), are included on Melody Life.

One of the high points of Marcia Griffiths' endurance is her ability to fit in. She is just as comfortable performing at 'vintage' shows like Heineken Startime or contemporary roots events such as East Fest.

No matter the demographic, the reception to songs like Feel Like Jumping, Dreamland or I Shall Sing is the same: rapturous.

No matter the demographic, the reception to songs is the same: rapturous.