Freddie Mcgregor

Freddie Mcgregor was born on 27 June 1956 in Clarendon, Jamaica. He is a singer, musician and record producer and he began his music career at the young and tender age of 7. In 1963, Mcgregor joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to form the Clarendonians and he sang backup. He began recording for Studio One at his young age and was know as ‘little Freddie”. The Clarendonians split in the mid-60s and Freddie teamed up with Ernest Fitzroy to form a duo, ‘Freddie & Fitzroy’. Besides being him being in a group, he recorded several singles o the side including “Why Did You Do It” and “Do Good & Good Will Follow You. Mcgregor stayed at Studio One for much of the 70s working as a drummer and backup singer. He also sang lead in groups such as Generation Gap and Soul Syndicate. He began writing some of his ow material including songs like “Go Away Pretty Woman”, “Tomorrow is like Today” and “What Difference Does It Make”.

In 1975, Mcgregor converted to Rastafari and still  with Studio One, he worked with Earl “Chinna” Smith to record the classics “Rastaman Camp” and “I Am A Rasta”. These were followed by the singles “Walls Of Jericho”, “Mark Of A Beast”, “Natural Collie”, “Africa Here I Come’, “Come Now Sister” and others. Mcgregor released his first album in 1977 , “Mr Mcgregor” which was produced by  Niney The Observer.  He released his first LP for the Studio One label “Bobby Bobylon” and it included both new material and reworkings of older singles. This album was a hit in Jamaica. Around the same time, Mcgregor started producing and arranging for other artists including Judy Mowatt, Johnny Osbourne and Jennifer Lara. Some of his other popular hits include ‘Push Comes To Shove”, ‘Just don’t want to be lonely’, ‘I was born A Winner’ and “Big Ship”. Mcgregor toured extensively for many years and in the 200s he released the albums Signature and Anything For You which received a Grammy nomination. In 2005 he came with  “Coming In Tough which featured artists Anthony B, Marcia Griffiths and Morgan Heritage. He also released  the hit single “Lock It Down” around that time. He began mentoring his sons Stephen ‘Di Genius’ and Chino in the studio as both of them are producers and in 2012 his album “Di Captain” was released and it featured Etana and Gappy Ranks.. In 2013, Mcgregor received the Marcus Garvey Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Caribbean Studies. He is a member of The Twelve Tribes organisation.

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