| Headley Bennett | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Felix Headley Bennett |
| Also known as | Deadly Headley |
| Born | 1931, Kingston, Jamaica |
| Genres | Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae |
| Instruments | Saxophone |
| Years active | Late 1950s–present |
| Associated acts | The Sheiks Lynn Taitt and the Jets The Mighty Vikings The Revolutionaries |
Felix Headley Bennett OD (born 1931), more often known simply as Headley Bennett or Deadly Headley, is a Jamaican saxophonist who has performed on hundreds of recordings since the 1950s.
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Born in Kingston in 1931, Bennett attended the Alpha Boys School from the age of five, where he learned to play the saxophone.[1] He left aged fifteen and worked as a musician for a while in Canada before returning to Jamaica.[1] Since the 1960s, Bennett has worked as a session musician in Jamaica, playing in the Studio One house band as well as in Lynn Taitt's band The Jets, The Mighty Vikings, and in The Revolutionaries.[1][2][3] In 1962, as a member of The Sheiks, he performed at Palisadoes Airport to greet Princess Margaret on her visit to the island to mark Jamaica's independence.[4] In the ska era of the late 1950s and 1960s he played on many recordings for a variety of studios including Bob Marley's first recording, "Judge Not" for Leslie Kong, and Derrick & Patsy's "Housewives Choice".[4][5] He went on to record with The Abyssinians, Alton Ellis, and Prince Far I among many others.[1] In the late 1960s he moved to Canada, returning to Jamaica in 1977.[4]
While the vast majority of his recordings have been as a session musician, he has released two albums where he is credited as the main artist. In the late 1970s he released an album of instrumental versions of soul ballads with Ossie Scott, Deadly Headly Bennett Meets The Magnificent Ossie Scott, and in 1981 he recorded 35 Years From Alpha with producer Adrian Sherwood, released in 1982 and reissued in 1999.[1]
In 2005, aged 74, Bennet was awarded the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer for his contribution to the development of music by the Jamaican government.[6]