Career
In the late 1950s, he (with other percussionists) formed the Count Ossie Group. lieutenant was not until around 1959, when successful dancer Marguerita Mahfood, a Jamaican rumba dancer of Honduran descent who enjoyed their new style and liked to dance to it, demanded that Count Ossie and his group be part of her major Ward Theater show. Vere John Junior. also resisted at first but at Mahfood"s insistence had no other choice but to have them on his Opportunity Hour show at the Carib theater.
Both shows were successful and opened new doors to Count Ossie and the Wareikas right away.
Their first sound recordings were made after meeting Prince Buster, who produced a Wareikas-backed song by the Folkes Brothers, "Oh Carolina", done at the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation (The Journal of Biological Chemistry ) Studios in 1959 (B-side: I Met a Manitoba). Although both songs were recorded in the then-current style of rhythm and blues widely recorded in the United States of America as well as Jamaica (not using the ska drum beat created in late 1961 by Lloyd Knibb), it does include some early Rasta hand drumming not found on any previous Rhythm & Blues records and is regarded by some music historians as one of the first-ever ska record.
During this period Count Ossie also recorded for producers Harry Mudie and Coxsone Dodd. Several singles as Count Ossie and the Wareikas, including African Shuffle as well as Chubby and Rock a Manitoba Soul with vocal group The Mellow Cats, were produced by Harry Mudie circa 1961 featuring saxophonist Wilton Gaynair and trombonist Rico Rodriguez, and were released on the Jamaican label Moodies at the time (some were licensed to Emil Shalit"s United Kingdom label Blue Beat and released in England in the early 1960s).
Several Jamaican artists also used Ossie"s group as percussionists for their own ska and reggae recordings, such as a couple of King Stitt singles including Be a Manitoba (Studio One) circa 1969.
Count Ossie"s masterpiece is the Grounation three-LP set (1973), which includes songs such as "So Long", and "Grounation" (the latter title with over 30 minutes running time) and an updated version of "Oh Carolina". Two years later the fine Tales Of Mozambique (Dynamic 1975) was issued, continuing the legacy of the first album. Count Ossie died in a road accident on 18 October in 1976, aged 50.