Bruce Ruffin

Bruce Ruffin (born, 17 February 1952, St Catherine, Jamaica)[1] is a rocksteady and reggae artist.

This article is about the musician. For the baseball player, see Bruce Ruffin (baseball).
Bruce Ruffin
Born (1952-02-17) 17 February 1952
St Catherine, Jamaica
OriginSt Catherine, Jamaica
GenresReggae, pop, rocksteady
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter, ceo, managing director
InstrumentsVocals
LabelsUniversal Music Group/Sanctuary Records Group, Rhino/EMI, Trojan & Beverley's
Websitebruceruffin.com

Biography

Ruffin got his start singing with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires briefly, before in 1967 joining the Techniques, one of the more successful rocksteady vocal groups of the late 1960s.[1] There he sang alongside Pat Kelly,[2] Winston Riley and Junior Menns. He was one of several talented singers to drift through the Techniques' ranks, but his stay with the group was highlighted by several rocksteady hits that he wrote, the most notable of which was "Love Is Not a Gamble".

Restless, Ruffin left the Techniques a year later, returning in 1969 as a solo artist with the upbeat reggae song, "Long About Now".

His greatest success came in the 1970s as a reggae-pop solo artist and writer.[1] He continued to record with a number of record producers (Leslie Kong, Herman Chin Loy, Lloyd Charmers) and had some success with cover versions, including Paul Simon's "Cecilia". However, it was a José Feliciano tune, "Rain", that would give his solo career momentum, recorded on Trojan Records, it was a UK number 19 hit in 1971[3] – the B-side of which was the karaoke favourite "Geronimo".

In 1972 he secured a crossover hit with "Mad About You", which featured odd background vocals and strings arrangement.[1] It was released on the Rhino record label (not to be confused with Rhino Records), and gave him his biggest selling hit, reaching number 9 in the UK Singles Chart[3] - it ultimately set the direction for his career. For the rest of the decade, Ruffin continued to release polished reggae-pop that had a strong audience in the UK and Europe. By the 1980s, Ruffin was concentrating on writing and publishing. He eventually moved away from music to study law, becoming a legal consultant to other reggae artists.[1]

Ruffin is now the CEO of the BRM Music companies.

gollark: I'd bet that not every implementation *is* actually fully compliant with the specs.
gollark: JackMacWindows said something about it only working post-Kaby Lake, so presumably the µarch and UEFI version are related.
gollark: Two Kaby Lake computers and a Zen 1 one.
gollark: I have a bunch of different things it could be tested on.
gollark: Oh, and about the lack of HTTP, backgrounds, that sort of thing (well, it's early alpha, so that makes sense). Still, it is definitely extremely cool.

References
  1. Moskowitz, David V. (2006) Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-33158-8, p.260
  2. Pat Kelly page at Reggae-Reviews.com
  3. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 474. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
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