Song:Woman of the Ghetto
Album:Treasure Isle Presents Original Reggae
Music has always been a tough business for women in Jamaica. It just seems that producers think that women are only good as backup singers. When Phyllis Dillon went up against this boy's club in the late 60s, she moved to New York and took a job in a bank. She quit the music business for good in 1971. She was born Jan. 1, 1948 in Linstead, St. Catherine, Jamaica. While performing with The Vulcans, session guitarist Lynn Taitt spotted her and took her to his boss Duke Reid at Treasure Isle. Phyllis was 19 years old. She wrote some of her own songs but Taitt mostly had her record covers like Bettye Swann's Make Me Yours and Xavier Cugat's Perfidia. Woman of the Ghetto was written by jazz singer Marlena Shaw. She also recorded duets with Alton Ellis and Hopeton Lewis. I guess she didn't like the music business because at the end of 1967, Phyllis moved to New York and took a job in a bank. By that time, Taitt moved to Toronto. For the next few years she returned to Jamaica occasionally to record. But she quit for good in 1971 and worked in the bank for many years. Unfortunately there is no Phyllis Dillon comp CD currently in print. But you can get Woman of the Ghetto on this 2CD Treasure Isle various artists comp. Attempts to convince Phyllis to record were usually refused except once in 1998 by Lynn Taitt. Phyllis Dillon died of cancer on Apr. 18, 2004 at age 56. Here's a video for Woman of the Ghetto by Phyllis Dillon.
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