Johnny Osbourne, Barry Biggs & Winston Groovy on the Dixie Queen

Part of The London Int'l Ska Festival 2024

REGGAE ON THE RIVER  sponsored by Greensleeves Records

On board our world famous Dixie Queen paddle steamer Thames cruise on Good Friday 29th March 2024 - 1-5pm.

starring a world exclusive triple bill of reggae stars;

JOHNNY OSBOURNE (Truth & Rights)

BARRY BIGGS (Sideshow)

WINSTON GROOVY (Please Don't Make Me Cry)

plus DJ Amma and DJ Lady Smurf!

This event is part of our Easter festival - (Good Friday 29th - Saturday 30th March 2024).

The Dixie Queen boards at 12.15pm at Tower Millenium Pier, Lower Thames St, London EC3N 4DT. Next to the Tower of London. Nearest tube station is Tower Hill.

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Overview;

Our world Dixie Queen paddle steamer Thames cruise truly is an incredible and unique event.  Past years have seen legendary names such as; Ken Boothe, Derrick Harriott, Keith & Tex, Ken Parker, BB Seaton (The Gaylads), AJ Franklin (Chosen Few), The Pioneers, U-Roy and Vin Gordon perform.

Our 2024 edition (part of the London Int'l Ska Festival) is yet another world exclusive event...

REGGAE ON THE RIVER

It is set to star a world exclusive triple bill of reggae legends!

JOHNNY OSBOURNE

With a career spanning more then half a century, Johnny Osborne is quite simply one of the most popular reggae and dancehall artists of all time. A graduate of Jamaica’s famed Alpha Boys School, he launched his career in 1967 recording for producer - Winston Riley. Through late 1979 and early 1980, he recorded extensively for Coxsonne Dodd at Studio One, with these sessions culminating in what is widely regard as a truly classic reggae album - Truths And Rights. This era also saw him record the hit album/single - Folly Ranking for King Jammy (then Prince Jammy), as well as hits galore for Bobby Digital and Coxsonne Dodd.  We are honoured to be hosting Johnny Osbourne for the first time at The London Int’l Ska Festival.

BARRY BIGGS

Barry Biggs might be best known for his massively popular song 'Sideshow', which reached number 3 on the UK singles charts in 1977 (and is the only reggae singles in the biggest selling tracks of the 70's in the UK charts!), but he started his musical career as a recording engineer at Jamaica's famed Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation studio.

His vocals talents were soon recognised and he became the lead singer for Byron Lee and The Dragonaires. At Lee's Dynamic Sounds studio (where Barry also worked as a producer and engineer) he recorded his first Jamaican hit - 'One Bad Apple' and in 1976 he broke through to international chart success with 'Work All Day'.

Over the next five years Barry went onto have six hit singles on the UK Singles Chart, truly earning him place in Reggae Chartbusting history!!

WINSTON GROOVY

Having launched his career in Jamaica for the producer and sound system operator King Edwards, Winston moved to the UK in the early 1960’s. In 1969 he teamed up with Laurel Aitken, adopt the name Winston Groovy and recorded a stream of tracks for the classic labels of the day; Trojan Records, Grape, Attack, Nu-Beat, New Beat, Bamboo, Ackee, Bullet, Crab, Jackpot, Pama, Pama Supreme, Harry J, Explosion, Federal and Horse record labels! His first big hit came with the Lee Scratch Perry produced I Wanna Be Loved, but he is undoubtedly best known for the wonderful 1970 release on Eddy Grant’s Torpedo label - Please Don’t Make Me Cry, a track that UB40 went onto have global success with as a single and on their Labour of Love LP.

With DJs Amma and Lady Smurf this is going to be yet another truly unique, world exclusive and unmissable event!

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