GIG PREVIEW: Derrick Morgan at the 100 Club
There are not too many bona fide Jamaican musical legends with us still, but Derrick Morgan, the one-time King of Ska is every inch the real thing. He plays a rare London show at the legendary 100 Club this Saturday the 13th September, in what must surely be the coolest reggae event of the year.
Morgan might not have been the first to rock the nightclubs of Kingston, but he was arguably the scene’s first real icon. Hits like Fat Man, Leave Earth and Wigger Wee Shuffle drove the nation wild. The first rudeboy look – pork pie hat, shades and tonic suit - will forever be associated with Morgan, a clear inspiration to the UK two-tone scene of the late Seventies.
Tougher Than Tough, the 1966 hit that many believe to be the first rocksteady record, could well describe the man himself. For anyone able to hold their own against Prince Buster, as Derrick did in the early Sixties when a vicious rivalry broke out between the two men, is surely not a guy to be messed with!