Ranking Trevor looks back in woe

Cecelia Campbell-Livingston

Friday, February 10, 2012

AFTER 40 years in the music business and several hit songs, deejay Ranking Trevor says he has little to show financially. He was one of the top toasters of the 1970s when his hit songs included Queen Majesty, Truly, Answer Mi Question and Rub a Dub Style.

"People out there now collecting my money by selling my songs in (all) kind of ways," Ranking Trevor told Splash in a recent interview.

According to Ranking Trevor (born Maxwell Barrington Grant) he went into the music business in the early 1970s without any knowledge of the industry. He says he has never received a royalty statement and most of his earnings came from performing at dances.

He is in the process of trying to recover "some of what's owed to me" especially with the emergence of digitally distributed music.

"In my days, it was just about fame and hearing your songs on the radio... yuh get excited, money was secondary," he said. "I didn't understand the business and the producers knew that. I just voice and leave it for them to think about payment."

Ranking Trevor grew up in the Waterhouse community of Kingston, where he attended St Patrick's Primary and Tarrant Secondary where he developed his love of music. He got his start in the music business as a deejay on the Gold Soul sound system but his career really took off when he hooked up with the rival Soul Attorney.

Soul Attorney later changed its name to King Attorney and then Papa Roots Hi-Fi, in the process becoming one of the outstanding sound systems of the 1970s. It was during this time that management at the hot Channel One studio sought him out and he did his first recording, Caveman Skank, for that label.

Caveman Skank reportedly sold 500 copies in its first week of release. It was followed by other hits such as Answer Mi Question, Penny A Look, Three Piece a Chicken and Chips, Love Yuh Sister, War, Natty and The Rootsman, Queen Majesty, and Truly.

Ranking Trevor is now focused on recording some "fresh songs". His latest songs are Producer Rob Me, Dem Cyaan Get Me Out and Recession.