BB Seaton

Early Days...

B.B Seaton christened Harris Lloyd Seaton, born September 3rd, 1944 under the star sign Virgo, is a rare combination of talent. A singer with a soulful voice, a qualified musician, producer and one of the most prolific song writers in the history of Jamaican music.

B.B started singing and writing songs from his high school days, and grew up listening to groups like Platters, Drifters, Temptations and the Four Tops to name but a few.

He had his first big hit in Jamaica when teaming up with Delano Stewart and Maurice Roberts to form "The Gaylads”. They recorded the hit single “Lady with the red Dress” on Clement Dodd’s Studio One label in 1967. A series of hits like "You Should Never Do That", "No Good Girl", "Chipmunk Ska", "Stop Making Love Beside Me", "Love Me With All Your Heart", "Red Rose", "You'll Never Leave Him", “Africa” followed including two albums “Soul Beat” and “Gaylads Sing Folks”.

At Wirl Records they gave us tracks like "Joy In The Morning" and "She Want It". At Tip Top Records, "Hard To Confess", "Over The Rainbows End", "I Need Your Loving", “ABC Rocksteady” and at Beverley's Records, "My Jamaican Girl", “There's A Fire", "Soul Sister", "Fire & Rain”, "We Three Kings"

Going Solo...

After ten years of working with companies in Jamaica like Studio One, Tip Top Records, Beverley’s Records and Treasure Isle Records as either A & R, Producer, Writer, Musician and Backing Vocalist, B.B. decided to go solo.

In 1972 he recorded his first solo single “Accept My Apology” which was an instant hit and there was no turning back from then on. His version of Bill Withers “Lean On Me”, Persuaders, “Thin Line Between Love & Hate”, “Rainbow Love”, “One Thing Leads To Another”, "God Bless Our Love”, “Can’t Hide The Feeling”, “Sweet Caroline”, “All The Best”, “Miss My Schooldays” and “My Jamaican Girl” “Everyday People”, “Born Free”, were also hits.

To Date, B.B has nineteen albums to his credit. “Dancing Shoes” (Virgin), “Thin Line Between Love & Hate” (Trojan), “Colour Is Not The Answer” (Jama), “I’m Aware Of Love”, “B.B Seaton Sings The Gaylads”, “ Wish Me Luck”, “Just One Moment”, “B.B Seaton Greatest Hits”, “In Control”, on his own (Soul Beat label), “Everyday People” (Creole), “Pleasure And Pain” (Studio One), “Reggae Country Classics", "Rootically Yours", "Reggae Land", "Unbeaten", "After All This Time", "Ready For The World", "Peace + Love", and his latest "Vintage Roots Reggae"

As a Record Producer and writer he has had hits like “Laugh It Off” by Phil Francis, “Tonight Is The Night” & “I Must Be Dreaming" by Claudette Miller, “Sweet Sunshine”, “Happiness” by Pat Rhoden, “Give Love A Try”, “Mash Up Illiteracy”,” Gave You My Love”,” Show Me The Way”, ”I’ll Never Hurt You (Soul Resolution)” by Delroy Wilson, “It Comes & Goes”, “Swing & Dine”, “Personally Speaking” by The Melodians, “Let Me Go Girl”, “People Do Rocksteady” by Slim Smith (Uniques), Jimmy London’s “Saddest Moment Of My Life”, “Happy Anniversary”, Ken Boothe’s “Who Really Cares” & “Six In One Medley”, “Freedom Street”, “Why Baby Why”, ”Mr Wind”, “The Girl I left Behind”, “I Wish It Could Be Peaceful Again”, “Lady With The Starlight”, “Keep My Love From Fading”, “Now I Know”, “Just Another girl”, “Can’t You See”, “Say You”, “Love Come Tumbling Down”, “ Feel Like Daniel”, “Hallelujah”, “ Blessed Is The Man”, “Black Gold & Green”, “I Remember Someone”, “Lucky Me”, “Congratulation”, ”I&I&I”, The Inner Circle “Stop Breaking My Heart”, Maxi Priest “Love Will Cross Over”, Ruddy Thomas“Time To Leave Daddy”, Judy Boucher “Want You Coming Home Again”,The Paragons “Trust Me”, Aswad “Noh Badda Wid It” and “Born Free” “No Good Girl” with himself to name a few. “Sunshine Reggae” vol. 1&2, and “Gun Court Dub” vol.1,2 & 3 are Various Artists and Dub Albums produced on his Soul Beat Label.

B.B has also written songs for top Jamaican and English artists like Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths, Joy White, Merlyn Brooks, Jennifer Laura, Mike Brooks, Dennis Brown, Delroy Wilson, The Chosen Few, Home T 4, Freddie Mc Gregor, Aswad, UB40, Beats International, Jimmy London, The Melodians, The Uniques, Saint & Campbell, Busty Brown, Maxi Priest, Judy Boucher, The Inner Circle, Winston Francis, Denzil Dennis, AJ Franklyn , Earl Sixteen and Ruddy Thomas.

As A & R at Studio One, Tip Top Records and Beverley’s Records, he auditioned and passed artists like The Heptones, The Melodians, Kingstonians, Lloyd Parks (as The Termites), Fredlocks (as the Lyrics), Dudley Sibley and introduced Jackie Mittoo to Coxsone at Studio One. He served as executive member and Vice President for the Jamaica Federation of Musicians, he received the El Suzie award as best song writer and the Jamaican Cultural Development award, in 1981 - 1982 for pioneering Jamaican music as a singer and songwriter. In 1997 he received the MKB – Desnoes & Geddes award for his 38 years of invaluable contribution to the development and growth of Jamaican music since 1959. He received the IRWMA (International Reggae & World Music Award) Hall of Fame / Lifetime Award in 2007 and received the Reggae Heritage Award in 2008.

Now...

BB is now releasing some of his vintage productions on his Soul Beat Record label in London, whilst his son Richard is releasing Hip-Hop music on the Soul Beat Record label USA.

His ambition is to write a song that the whole world will sing.