
Cornell Campbell is coming to California to perform at The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and tour with his own band of world class musicians including horn section. The tour is starting June 28th in northern California.
For bookings contact Peter Wardle with Kings Music International at (510) 326-8445 or online at reggaeangl@aol.com.
Biography: Cornell Campbell
Cornell Campbell, a.k.a. the Gorgon, started singing professionally in 1956 at the age of 8, when he recorded his first songs for the legendary Coxsone Dodd. Perhaps best known for the series of “Gorgon rock” records he cut with legendary producer Bunny Lee, Cornell Campbell was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1948. As a teen Campbell recorded his first material for Studio One, cutting a series of ska sides both as a solo artist and as one half of a duo with Alan Martin from 1964 to 1967. Campbell worked for a time as a member of the rocksteady harmony trio – The Uniques. As the decade ended, he helmed The Eternals, scoring a number of Studio One-generated hits including “Queen of the Minstrels” and “Stars”.
In 1971 he again went solo, teaming with Bunny Lee, a pairing which spotlighted Campbell’s distinctive falsetto to stunning effect. Despite earning acclaim for a self-titled LP issued on Trojan two years later, in 1975 he shifted from the lovers rock sensibility of recent years toward a more explicitly Rastafarian approach, with records like “Natty Dread in a Greenwich Farm” and “Natural Fact”- both of which emerged among his biggest hits to date. Later that year, Campbell and Lee also launched “The Gorgon,” a boastful smash, which yielded a series of hit sequels. His 1977’s “The Investigator” heralded a successful return to lover’s rock. “Boxing” and “Rope In”, both released by Joe Gibbs, proved that Cornell Campbell could again rule the dance hall as the up-tempo rockers era yielded to the rub-a-dub sound in the late 70s and early 80s. Recording sporadically over the following decades, the Gorgon has resurfaced again and again to claim his rightful place in the pantheon of golden-throated singers.
Cornell Campbell ‘s old school, sweet singing voice is a unique sound to be cherished and remembered. Today, with 50 years of music-making experience, his soulful falsetto is still entrancing. With Studio 1, Bunny Lee, and Joe Gibbs hits filling his classic song catalog, Cornell Campbell is still the Gorgon.
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