The Slickers were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae group in the late 60’s and early 70’s, best known for the track Johnny Too Bad, which appeared on the soundtrack to The Harder They Come starring reggae legend Jimmy Cliff.
The group was formed by Derrick Crooks of The Pioneers and Winston Bailey around 1965. However, with Derrick as the only constant member the line-up has been pretty fluid, overlapping with both The Pioneers and The Reggae Boys. Other known members were Derrick’s brother Sydney Crooks, Roy Beckford, George Dekker and Abraham Green (later known as Ras Abraham) who is said to have handled the lead vocal on “Johnny Too Bad” when it was recorded for producer Byron Lee in 1970.
The full history of the Slickers is unknown, but it is known that some version of the band toured the U.S. and Europe and released occasional singles and two LPs throughout the 70’s, before ceasing somewhere around 1978. |
