Marcia Griffiths

Marcia Llyneth Griffiths was born on 23 November 1949 in West Kingston, Jamaica. She would sing in the church choir and she took part in musical presentations hence she developed love for music. Griffiths’ career started in 1964 when she performed on stage with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires at the behest of Philip James of The Blues Busters who had heard her singing in her home neighborhood. The following day she was offered recording contracts by Ronnie Nasralla and Clement Dodd as they had been impressed by her performance. Griffiths’ chose to record with Dodd’s Studio One Label and here she recorded a series of duets such as “Oh My Darling” with Bob Marley, “You’re Mine” with Tony Gregory, “Always Together” with Bob Andy and “Words” with Jeff Dixon. From 1970 to 1974 she worked together with Bob Andy as a duo ‘Bob and Marcia’ on the Harry J Label. Griffiths was also a member of “I Threes” a trio of backing vocalists for Bob Marley & The Wailers. She worked with producers such as Sonia Pottinger and Joseph Hoo Kim. In 1983 she re-recorded the song “Electric Boogie” originally done by the Wailers and the remix of that song hit number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is currently the highest selling single of all time by a reggae female artist. Griffiths also worked with producer Donovan Germain. She featured on the album “True Love” by ‘Toots and the Maytals’ and the album won the Best Reggae Album at the Grammy Awards in 2004. A documentary film about Griffiths titled “Reggae Meets Samba” was produced in 2013.