#12: Liquidator by Harry J. All Stars

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKLC
Peak Month: May 1970
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Liquidator”

The Harry J. All Stars were a group that consisted of Winston Wright on organ and keyboard, Val Bennett on saxophone, Aston “Family Man” Barrett on bass guitar, Boris Gardiner on bass guitar, Jackie Jackson on bass guitar, and Carlton Barrett on drums. The group was also known as The Jay Boys. The group was popularly known as Harry J. All Stars, named after Jamaican reggae producer Harry Zephaniah Johnson.

Born in 1946, in Kingston, Jamaica, Aston “Family Man” Barrett sang as a child. He built his first bass guitar from scratch out of curtain rod and plywood. He worked as a bike mechanic until he was able to support himself as a musician.

Winston Wright was born in Jamaica in 1944. While a student at the school that he fist displayed a natural aptitude for music, excelling on keyboards, particularly the organ, with his talents later coming to the attention of local group, the Mercury Band. Wright moved to Kingston, Jamaica, and joined two instrumental bands Lyn Taitt & the Comets and Tommy McCook’s Supersonics. He began to record in the mid 60’s, appearing on many rocksteady tracks for Arthur “Duke” Reid and other producers. At the time he was added to Harry J. All Stars, Wright was with the Dynamites.

Carlton Barrett was born in 1950 in Kingston, Jamaica. As a teenager, he built his first set of drums out of empty paint cans he found on the street. In the 1960s, Barrett began performing with his brother Aston “Family Man” Barrett under the names The Soul Mates, and The Rhythm Force. In 1968, the Barrett brothers formed the Hippy Boys.

Clifton “Jackie” Jackson was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1947. He started playing bass guitar after he saw the Skatalites in 1964. That year he formed Ty and the Titans. By 1966, he joined the Cavaliers, and then the Supersonics. In 1967, he was in the studio on an Alton Ellis recording of “Girl I’ve Got A Date”. In 1969, Jackson was a studio musician for Desmond Dekker & The Aces’ international hit record “Israelites”.

Lovall “Val” Bennett was born in the late 1920s, and by the late 40s was leading his own band, the Val Bennett Orchestra. In addition to clubs across Jamaica, the band also toured abroad, performing in countries including Haiti, where they picked up merengue and played it on their return to Jamaica. From the early to mid-1960s, Bennett was a regular member of Prince Buster’s band, playing on many of the singer’s best-known recordings. This  included the international Top 20 hit in 1967 titled “Al Capone”.

Boris Gardiner was born in 1943 in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1960 he joined Richard Ace’s band the Rhythm Aces. With the group he recorded “Angella”, and the local hits “A Thousand Teardrops” and “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S”. The group split up and by 1963 Gardiner joined Kes Chin and The Souvenirs as vocalist, and began learning guitar. He went on to join Carlos Malcolm & the Afro Caribs, after which he started his own group, the Broncos. Gardiner later played with Byron Lee’s Dragonaires. He played in house bands The Upsetters, and The Crystalites’.

In 1969, Harry J. All Stars released the instrumental single “Liquidator”.

“Liquidator” was written by Harry Johnson (aka Harry J). Alton Lewis has said that the bass line from “Girl I’ve Got A Date” was used on “Liquidator”.

“Liquidator” peaked at #5 in Kingston (ON), and #7 in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the UK, the single climbed to #9 on the pop charts. The Staple Singers used the bass line and introduction from “Liquidator” for their 1972 number-one hit “I’ll Take You There”. The English 2 tone and ska revival band, The Specials,  covered “Liquidator” as part of the ska covers medley “Skinhead Symphony” on their live EP Too Much Too Young – The Special A.K.A. Live! The EP reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on February 2, 1980.

Since 1969, “Liquidator” has been a popular tune to play on the public address system as UK football teams run out onto the field: especially Chelsea (West London), Wolverhampton Wanderers (Weset Midlands), West Bromwich Albion (West Midlands), and St Johnstone (Perth, Scotland). “Liquidator” was stopped years later at the home games of West Bromwich Albion and Wolves at the request of West Midlands Police due to some fans using the tune to chant abuse and obscenities about their rivals. However, “Liquidator” was played by West Bromwich before the start of their match against Cardiff City towards the end of the 2013-2014 season. As of 2024, the ban remains in force at Wolverhampton’s ground, though it is now played at West Bromwich. Yeovil Town (Somerset, England) adopted “Liquidator” as their club song in 2003.

After “Liquidator” the Harry J. All Stars went on to other pursuits.

In the 1970s, Boris Gardiner joined Bunny Lee’s reggae backing band The Aggrovators. As a solo artist, in 1970 Gardiner had a Top Ten hit in Jamaica, and a #14 hit in the UK with the song “Elizabethan Reggae”. In 1986, Boris Gardner had a number-one hit in Australia and the UK with “I Wanna Wake Up With You”. The single also shot to #2 in New Zealand, #3 in Belgium and Norway, #4 in Sweden, #6 in Switzerland, #14 in Austria, and #18 in West Germany. At the end of 1986, the single was the number-three hit for the year in the UK, and in 1987 the number-eight song in New Zealand, and #15 year-end in Australia.

After the breakup of Harry J. All Stars, Aston “Family Man” Barrett released his debut album Familyman in Dub. In From 1970 to 1981, he was a member of Bob Marley and the Wailers. In this capacity, he was in the recording studio on Marley’s albums Catch a Fire (1973), Burnin’ (1973) including lead guitar on “I Shot The Sheriff”, Natty Dread (1974), Exodus (1977), including “Jamming”, “Three Little Birds”, and “One Love/People Get Ready”, Barrett also appeared on the 1974 Taj Mahal album Mo’ Roots, the debut album by Peter Tosh Legalize It, and three albums by Jamaican artist Burning Spear, for Keith Hudson, and others. In 2021, “Family Man” Barrett received the Jamaican Order of Distinction. He died at the age of 77 in 2024.

Carleton Barrett also joined Bob Marley & The Wailers, and was with the band from 1970 to 1981. He also appeared on albums with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. On April 17, 1987, a gunman shot and killed Barrett outside his home at 12 Bridgemount Park Avenue in Kingston, Jamaica. He was 36. Barrett’s widow, Albertine Barrett, was subsequently sent to prison in 1991, after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Sentenced with her were taxi driver Glenroy Carter, 39, her reputed lover, and Junior “Bang” Neil, 39, a mason, who the prosecution alleged was responsible for the actual shooting.

Winston Wright was a much sought-after session musician after Harry J. and the All Stars split up. He was in the recording studio in Jamaica with Doris Troy, Toots & the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Yarrow, Herbie Mann, Bunny Wailer, Black Uhuru, and many others. In 1975, he became part of the touring band for Toots & the Maytals. Wright died in 1993 at the age of 49.

Val Bennett played with Bunny Lee’s All Stars, and on countless sessions with a variety of recording artists. He died in his sixties in 1991 in an almshouse.

Jackie Jackson went on to play as a session musician on many recordings. This includes Paul Simon’s “Mother And Child Reunion”. Jackson became a member of Toots Hibbert’s touring band from the early 1970s onwards. They became the opening band for Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles. In 2005, he won a Grammy Award as a member of Toots and the Maytals, for Best Reggae Album titled True Love. Jackson has been with Toots & the Maytals variously from 1969–1981, 1990–2013, and 2016 to the present.

Harry Johnson “Harry J” went on to produce albums for Dennis Brown, the Heptones, and the Melodians. The studio was also a must-stop hangout for foreign artistes like The Rolling stones, Grace Jones, The Who, and Johnny Nash. Jamaican producer, Harry J, died in April 2013 as a result of a long battle with diabetes. The studio named after him continues to produce records in Jamaica in 2024.

December 23, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Greg Kot, “I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers, and the March Up…,” (Simon & Schuster, 2014) p. 182.
Brett Gibbons, “Baggies may bring back fans’ anthem The Liquidator for crucial relegation scrap,” Birmingham Mail, March 27, 2014.
Ian Canty, “Harry J Allstars: Liquidator Expanded Edition – Album Review,” Louder Than War, June 7, 2018.
Patricia Meschino, “Harry Johnson, Legendary Jamaican Producer of Harry J Studios Credited with First Reggae Single, Dead at 67,” Billboard, April 8, 2013.
“Harry J Studio,” Harry J Studio.com.
Laurence Cane-Honeysett, “Winston Wright,” Trojan Records
“Musician’s Wife, Two Others Sentenced In His Murder,” Associated Press, October 18, 1991.
Stephanie Kaloi, “Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, Bob Marley and the Wailers Bassist, Dies at 77,” The Wrap, February 3, 2024.
Angus Taylor, “Interview: Jackie Jackson Talks Treasure Isle,” United Reggae, August 5, 2016.
Angus Taylor, “Interview: Boris Gardiner in Kingston (Part 1),” United Reggae, December 18, 2017.
Alton Ellis, “Girl, I’ve Got A Date“, 1967.
Desmond Dekker & The Aces, “Israelites,” Uni Records, 1969.

CKWS 960-AM Kingston (ON) Top Ten | May 11, 1970