- Roman Stewart
Roman Stewart, also known as Romeo Stewart and 'Mr. Special' (born
11 May 1957 ,Kingston, Jamaica , died25 January 2004 ,New York ) was areggae singer.Gopie, Donovan (2004) "Popular reggae singer Roman Stewart dies", Caribbean Net News] Stewart won the Festival Song Contest in 1975.Biography
Roman was the younger brother of
Tinga Stewart , and recorded his first single, "Walking Down The Street" in 1968. He recorded further singles in the early 1970s for producersDerrick Harriott ("Changing Times") andGlen Brown ("Never Too Young"). [http://www.upsetter.net/scratch/station/2004/2004_roman.htm "Roman Stewart 1957-2004: Natty Sang Hit Songs", Weekend Productions] ] In 1975 he won the Festival Song Contest with "Hooray Festival", written by Tinga andWillie Lindo , this success leading to the brothers initially being labelled as 'festival singers'Thompson, Dave (2002) "Reggae & Caribbean Music", Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-655-6] Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9] He had a big hit in Jamaica in 1976 with "Hit Song" (aka "Natty Sings Hit Songs"), a song about the desire to have a hit record in order to escape poverty, the same year in which he relocated to New York.O' Brien Chang, Kevin & Chen, Wayne (1998) "Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music", Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica, ISBN 976-8100-67-2] He continued to visit Jamaica and went on to work withPhil Pratt andLinval Thompson , having another big hit in 1979 with "Rice and Peas".Roman recorded two albums of duets with his brother Tinga, "Brother to Brother" and "Break Down the Barrier", and released a solo album, "Wisdom of Solomon", produced by
Gussie P , in 2001, which included re-recordings of some of his earlier hits such as "Peace in the City" and "Rice and Peas". [Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4]On
24 January 2004 , Stewart attended a concert by his long time friendFreddie McGregor inBrooklyn and performed at a party later that night. After two songs, he cut short his performance, complaining of chest pains, and died fromheart failure the next day at Long Island Jewish Hospital inNew Hyde Park ,Long Island .Albums
*"Running Away From Love" (1979) Island In The Sun
*"Diplomat" (1991) reissued on "Continually" (2000) TP (Errol Dunkley and Roman Stewart)
*"Brother to Brother" with Tinga Stewart
*"Break Down the Barrier" with Tinga Stewart
*"Wisdom of Solomon" (2001) Gussie PVideo releases
Stewart appears on the following concert video:
*"Vintage Reggae Bash - Brooklyn 1983" (2007) Plastic Head (DVD)References
External links
* [http://www.roots-archives.com/artist/453 Romeo Stewart at Roots Archives]
* [http://www.reggaeid.co.uk/artists.php?artist=Roman%20Stewart Roman Stewart at ReggaeID]
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