Jesse Green (born July 5, 1948) – For Your Love (1978)

The Jamaican singer/songwriter who drummed for Jimmy Cliff before becoming a disco star produced this superb funky love song for his second solo LP.

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Jesse Green is a Jamaican singer/songwriter who released several disco albums during the 1970s and early 80s.

Born in St. James, Jamaica, Locksley Rooklyn Alphanso Green grew up listening to the city’s sound systems, mobile DJ crews on trucks outfitted with speakers and turntables that helped give birth to ska, rocksteady, and reggae music on the island. He became a drummer and played in the backing band for legendary vocal trio The Pioneers before drumming for Jimmy Cliff during the early seventies.

He released his first solo single as Jesse Green in 1974, the reggae/disco-flavored “Hurricane Woman” b/w “Summer Days,” both sides written and co-produced by himself and released on the UK reggae label Sunbeam. The next year he put out several reggae singles under the name Locks Lee, but also another reggae/disco single as Green on Sunbeam with “Go Away Dream,” co-written by the Chi-Lites’ Eugene Record, and the slow jam “Highwaves Of The Sea” on the flip.

The following year, Green released his debut solo album Nice And Slow (1976) on EMI Records.

Its title track single was written by the album’s producer Ken Gibson. Scepter Records released it as a 12” promo single, mixed by Paradise Garage co-owner Mel Cheren and Howard Metz. According to veteran New York City DJ Juan Negron:

“One of the first Disco Promo 12”s that came out...there were not lots of em made, but everybody I knew had it and I (saw) some selling at the local DJ record store…the B side is great also “I GET LIFTED” by Sweet Music!!!”

It reached #3 on U.S. disco charts and became an international hit, going to #1 in the Netherlands and Belgium and landing at #17 on the UK singles charts. The follow up single to “Nice & Slow” was the upbeat disco jam “Flip,” co-written by Gibson and songwriter Carol Holness, who went on to her own brief disco career as Nancy Nova. “Flip” was less commercially successful, only reaching #17 on disco charts and #26 in the UK.

Green’s next album was Come with Me (1978), with another hit title track that went to #29 on the UK singles charts. It also contained several tracks produced by Green, like the positivity anthem “Life Can Be Beautiful” (co-written by James Tuba and Manilal Shihora) and the superb smooth disco-funk love song “For Your Love” (written by Eliot Frances).

Happy Birthday to the great Jesse Green.

#soul #funk #disco #JimmyCliff #ScepterRecords #JesseGreen