| Dave and Ansell Collins | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Kingston, Jamaica |
| Genres | Reggae |
| Labels | Trojan Records |
Dave and Ansell Collins were a Jamaican vocal/instrumental duo (sometimes billed as Dave and Ansil Collins or Dave and Ansel Collins).
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Dave Barker (born David John Crooks, 10 October 1947, Kingston, Jamaica) is a session vocalist,[1] and Ansell Collins (born 1949, also in Kingston) is a keyboard player.[2] They were working for producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in Kingston in the late 1960s, and joined forces in 1971, for the reggae single "Double Barrel". Released by Techniques Records, part of the Trojan Records label, it topped the Jamaican and UK charts in March of that year.[3] It was the first record that drummer Sly Dunbar (then 14) ever played on.
The follow-up release, the similarly styled "Monkey Spanner" enjoyed the same international success. Most of their recorded work was written by Winston Riley. After cutting an album, Collins and Barker parted company; Collins becoming a session player and Barker, now resident in the United Kingdom, singing with several soul groups. They attempted a comeback in 1981 without success.
In 1986, Collins appeared as one of Ernest Reed's (Jimmy Cliff) back-up musicians in the reggae-themed comedy film, Club Paradise. He was billed as "Ansel (sic) "Double Barrel" Collins".[4] Collins has played and worked with The Upsetters, Black Uhuru, The Mighty Diamonds, Barrington Levy, Gregory Isaacs, U-Roy, Pama International and Jimmy Cliff.
Double Barrel was sampled by Special Ed on the song, 'I'm The Magnificent' and two of Barker's introductory exclamations ("Don't watch that, watch this!" from "Funky Funky Reggae" and "This is the heavy, heavy monster sound!" from "Monkey Spanner") were quoted by vocalist Chas Smash in the introduction to the Madness single "One Step Beyond".