One of the biggest names in reggae, Carlton Livingston was born in St. Mary, Jamaica, which is a trait shared by hundreds of popular reggae artists. Carlton Livingston was number four, in a family of six children. He started singing at a very early age as a choir singer in the local church of England. His sister were also choir singers and his mother was an organist.
Music was a huge part of Carlton Livingston’s life ever since he was a very young boy. His family supported him all the way to the top. His first semi-hit was recorded in 1978, called ’Tale of Two Cities’. The song was released in England and did hold a low place in the charts, for a short time. Carlton Livingston was soon approached by a man called Leon Symoie, from ’Trillseekers’ record label.
After being signed onto ’Trillseekers’, Livingston recorded enough songs to release his first LP, ’Soweto’. The album was a good success, but still not brilliant. He then looked to bigger things. Carlton moved and started a radio broadcast. He was picked up by Tony Walcott, who took them to reggae and D.J. training sessions, which led to huge ’underground’ success. In this time, in 1979, Carlton Livingston created and recorded over forty songs.
After his underground success, Carlton Livingston looked to the big time, recording tracks like ’Tricks’ and ’Hot Summer’. These were moderate hits in the U.K. and U.S. until 1982 when he went on a tour around North America, performing at some of the biggest and most popular venues across the nation. He then became hugely successful, performing at venues across London, the U.S. and Canada.
It is widely believed that Carlton Livingston is one of the best singers and songwriters of the eighties and early nineties. This has been demonstrated by the large number of other reggae artists that have performed and recorded cover versions of his songs. Carlton Livingston is now recording new material to be released in Jamaica later this year, but he is not as young as he used to be, so he is taking it easy at the moment.
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