Song:Shaft
Album:Trojan Presents Original Reggae
There was a time in the early days of Jamaican music that it was common for groups to cover popular R & B hits. As Reggae became popular in the 70s and became more of a political statement, we saw less of this. The Chosen Few was a 70s group that covered R & B hits like 60s groups. The man behind The Chosen Few was the very popular singer Derrick Harriott. He was very successful in the early 60s and he formed his own label Crystal Records to produce his own music but also to discover new artists. One of those groups was The Federals with Franklin Spence aka AJ Franklin, David "Scotty" Scott and Valman Smykle. They recorded a few unsuccessful singles and Smykle left and The Federals split up. But Franklin and Scott reformed the group with Noel "Bunny" Brown and Richard McDonald. They became The Chosen Few. When Scott left to become a DJ, Harriott brought in Busty Brown, former lead singer of The Messengers. And McDonald was replaced by Errol Brown. It was his idea to start covering R & B songs. Some of their hits included The Stylistics' You're A Big Girl Now and The Main Ingredient's Everybody Plays The Fool. And this cover of the Isaac Hayes classic Shaft. These singles were released on the 1973 album Hit After Hit. Unfortunately, that album has never been released on CD. And Trojan Records has never released a Chosen Few comp. But you can get Shaft on this 2CD various artists comp. The Chosen Few released the album The Chosen Few In Miami in 1976. And it looks like a version of the group led by Spence and Errol Brown is still around today. Here's a video for Shaft by The Chosen Few.
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