Appearing on the Gayfeet and High Note labels, hits by Stewart included “Dance With Me”, That’s Life”, and “Stay a Little Bit Longer”. Her Tip Top Record Center at 103 Orange Street, and later on at 37, was a constant buzz of activity, as buyers flocked to the store for her latest releases.īy 1970, rocksteady had evolved into reggae, and Delano Stewart was one of her main singers in this period. There was “Lady with the Starlight” and “Say You” by Ken Boothe, and “Give Me The Right” and “Down by The Train line” by Stranger Cole and Patsy Todd. Perennial favorites include “Swing and Dine” and “A Little Nut Tree” by the Melodians, and “It’s Hard To Confess”, ABC Rocksteady, and “Over The Rainbow’s End” by the Gaylads. Regarded as one of the creators of rocksteady, Trinidadian guitarist Lyn Taitt, with his band, the Jets, provided backing on many of Pottinger’s classic rocksteady songs. Here Sonia made some of her most memorable contributions. Session”, “This is Thunder”, and “Contact” by Harmonica player Roy Richards.īetween 19, the frenetic ska transitioned into the easy sway of rocksteady. There were popular ska instrumentals by the Brooks band too, such as “Roll Call”, Cocktails for Two”, “1st. In early 1966, she again topped the hit parade with “My Love for You”, another wistful ballad by her first hit makers, Joe White and Chuck. Her second number one came within two months of her first, in the bolero flavored “Brown Eyes”, by the Saints. This earned for her the West Indies Records Limited award for “producer of the best record of the year”.
The song reached number one on the Jamaican Hit Parade, and was one of the biggest hits of 1965. Her first effort in 1965, which appeared on her now iconic Gayfeet record label, was the plaintive ballad “Every Night”, by Joe White and Chuck.
Brooks was well-known in recording circles, having worked with seasoned producers such as Duke Reid, King Edwards, and Prince Buster, and Sonia drew on this experience. Her first master stroke was to recruit popular trumpeter Baba Brooks as her musical director, and to lead her recording band. She assumed the reins of the business in the mid-1960s, and began to blaze her own path. Lindon had produced hit songs such as “My Happy Home” by Roy and Patsy, and “Bewildered” by Jimmy James, among others, in the early 1960s. Sonia had already been exposed to the business, as she was the wife of record producer and Tip Top Record Shop owner, Lindon Pottinger. Thomas native Sonia Pottinger entered the male dominated world of record producing.
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