The Uniques were a Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n rocksteady

Rocksteady

Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor to ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals and The Paragons. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton...

 and reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 vocal group, formed in 1966 and active with varying line-ups until the late 1970s.

History

The Uniques originally formed as a vocal harmony trio of Roy Shirley

Roy Shirley

Roy Shirley also known as King Roy Shirley and The High Priest was a Jamaican singer whose career spanned the ska, rocksteady and reggae eras, and whose "Hold Them" is regarded by some as the first ever rocksteady song...

, Slim Smith

Slim Smith

Slim Smith was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book Reggae: The Rough Guide , Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerge in the rocksteady era".-Biography:Smith first came to prominence as a member of the Victors Youth Band, who were highly...

, and Franklyn White, (the latter two from The Techniques

The Techniques

The Techniques were a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group mainly active in the 1960s.-History:The group was formed by Winston Riley in 1962 while still at school, with the initial line-up also featuring Slim Smith, Franklyn White, and Frederick Waite...

) releasing a few singles in 1966. The group then disbanded, until late 1967 when Smith formed a new version of the group with Jimmy Riley

Jimmy Riley

Jimmy Riley is a Jamaican singer who in addition to recording solo has also been a member of the Sensations and The Uniques.-Biography:...

 and Lloyd Charmers

Lloyd Charmers

Lloyd Charmers is a ska and reggae singer, keyboard player and record producer.-Career:...

. The new line-up debuted with "Watch This Sound", a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Stephen Stills

Stephen Stills

Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...

' "For What It's Worth", which was a hit along with a string of subsequent singles, many produced by Bunny Lee

Bunny Lee

Edward O'Sullivan Lee, better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee is a prominent, prolific and successful record producer best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...

, including "My Conversation", which Lee sold to Rupie Edwards

Rupie Edwards

Rupie Edwards is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.-Biography:...

, who used the rhythm to create the first one-rhythm album, Yamaha Skank.

Bunny Lee issued a showcase album in the 1970s, and the group name was briefly revived by Riley and Cornell Campbell

Cornell Campbell

Cornell Campbell aka Don Cornell or Don Gorgon is a reggae singer, best known for his trademark falsetto voice, and his recordings at Studio One in the late 1960s and his later work with Bunny Lee in the 1970s.-Biography:Cornel has one of the sweetest falsettos of any Jamaican vocalist and uses it...

 in 1977 for the album Give Thanks, and again in 1997 with Al Campbell

Al Campbell

Al Campbell is a Jamaican reggae singer active since the late 1960s.-Biography:Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Campbell's singing career began in church, where his father was a preacher, and Al would sing to raise funds...

 joining Cornell and Riley on the album The Uniques.

Albums

• Absolutely The Uniques (1969) Trojan
  Trojan Records
  Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...
  
  
• Showcase vol. 1 (1978) Third World/Jackpot
• Give Thanks (1979) Plant (recorded 1977)
• The Best of The Uniques (1994) Trojan
• Watch This Sound (1998) Pressure Sounds
  Pressure Sounds
  Pressure Sounds is a British record label, specializing in releasing reggae music. It is run by Pete Holdsworth although Adrian Sherwood was involved at the inception of the imprint...
  
  
• The Uniques (1999) Charm

Singles

• "The Journey" (1966), Rio (B-side of Tommy McCook's "Jerk Time")http://www.johnnyspencer.info/imagetexts16/jerktimeTM.htm
• "Do Me Good" (1966), Rio (B-side of Tommy McCook's "Out of Space")
• "Dry the Water" (1967), Collins Downbeat
• "People Rock Steady" (1967), Island Johnny Spencer
• "Gypsy Woman" (1967), Island
  Island Records
  Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
  
  
• "Never Let Me Go" (1967), Island
• "Let Me Go Girl" (1967), Island
• "Speak No Evil" (1968), Island
• "Lesson of Love" (1968), Island
• "Build My World Around You" (1968), Island
• "Give Me Some More of Your Loving" (1968), Island
• "My Conversation" (1968), Island
• "The Beatitude" (1968), Island
• "Girl of My Dreams" (1968), Island
• "Girls Like Dirt" (1968), Blue Cat (B-side of Glen Adams
  Glen Adams
  Glen Adams was a Jamaican musician, composer, arranger, engineer, producer, based since the mid-1970s in Brooklyn, New York.-Career:...
  
  ' "She Is Leaving")
• "More Love" (1968), Trojan
  Trojan Records
  Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...
  
   (B-side of Race Fans' "Bookie Man")
• "Little Boy Blue" (1968), Giant (credited to Pat Kelly
  Pat Kelly (musician)
  Pat Kelly is a reggae singer whose career began in the late 1960s.- The Techniques :Kelly was born in Kingston in 1949. After leaving school, he spent a year studying electronics in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States during 1966, before returning to Jamaica...
  
   & The Uniques)
• "Facts of Life" (1968), Island (credited to Roy Shirley
  Roy Shirley
  Roy Shirley also known as King Roy Shirley and The High Priest was a Jamaican singer whose career spanned the ska, rocksteady and reggae eras, and whose "Hold Them" is regarded by some as the first ever rocksteady song...
  
   & The Uniques)
• "Watch This Sound" (1968), Trojan (credited to Slim Smith
  Slim Smith
  Slim Smith was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book Reggae: The Rough Guide , Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerge in the rocksteady era".-Biography:Smith first came to prominence as a member of the Victors Youth Band, who were highly...
  
   & the Uniques)
• "My Woman's Love" (1969), Crab
  Crab Records
  Crab Records was a reggae label that issued releases from 1968 to 1971. Crab was a subsidiary of Pama Records, who along with Trojan Records, was one the major labels for reggae music in the UK...
  
   (B-side of The Melodians
  The Melodians
  The Melodians were a reggae band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica in 1965, by Tony Brevett , Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton...
  
  ' "When There Is You")
• "Forever" (1969), Duke (B-side of Lloyd Tyrell's "Cooyah")
• "Secretly" (1969), Dr. Bird
• "Too Proud to Beg" (1969), Gas
• "Crimson & Clover" (1969), Nu-Beat
• "I'll Make You Love Me" (1969), Nu-Beat
• "A-Yuh" (1969), Trojan
• "The Beatitude"/"My Conversation" (1969), Trojan