Reggae DJ, producer and songwriter King Sporty has died at age 71. Sporty, whose real name was Noel G. Williams, was perhaps best known as the songwriter of "Buffalo Soldier," a huge hit for Bob Marley that honored black soldiers in the Civil War. He is also credited with the growth of reggae music in his adopted home of South Florida, where he was married to legendary soul singer Betty Wright. Modern audiences have heard his music indirectly, as Sporty's song "Self Destruct" was sampled by Justin Timberlake for the song "That Girl" on Timberlake's 20/20 Experience album
Born in Portland, Jamaica, Sporty first came to the attention of music audiences as a studio sideman under Clement Dodd's tutelage at Studio One, and recorded for Dodd as a deejay. In 1965 he released the track "El Cid", credited to King Sporty and Justin Yap.
Reggae DJ, producer and songwriter King Sporty has died at age 71. Sporty, whose real name was Noel G. Williams, was perhaps best known as the songwriter of "Buffalo Soldier," a huge hit for Bob Marley that honored black soldiers in the Civil War. He is also credited with the growth of reggae music in his adopted home of South Florida, where he was married to legendary soul singer Betty Wright. Modern audiences have heard his music indirectly, as Sporty's song "Self Destruct" was sampled by Justin Timberlake for the song "That Girl" on Timberlake's 20/20 Experience album
Born in Portland, Jamaica, Sporty first came to the attention of music audiences as a studio sideman under Clement Dodd's tutelage at Studio One, and recorded for Dodd as a deejay. In 1965 he released the track "El Cid", credited to King Sporty and Justin Yap.
In the early 1970s he moved to Miami, Florida and began producing music there. In 1977 Sporty released an album, Mr. Rhythm, on his own Konduko label. He evolved from reggae to funk to disco to electro to Miami bass between the 1970s and 1980s. He worked with KC and the Sunshine Band and other TK Records artists, and had a few minor disco hits of his own with "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Meet Me At The Disco." Sporty found lasting hits in the electro funk canon with Connie Case's "Get on Down" and "Haven't Been Funked Enough," under his Ex Tras moniker when he made licensing deals with Tommy Boy Records in 1982.
Sporty was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Reggae and World Music Awards in 2010
Portions of this article are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article King Sporty.
Thanks to SoulTracker Anastasie for letting us know about this.