b. Wilfred Edwards, 1938, Jamaica, West Indies, d. 15 August 1992. The honeyed tones of Jackie Edwards graced hundreds of ska, R&B, soul, rocksteady, reggae and ballad recordings since he composed and sang "Your Eyes Are Dreaming", a sentimental ballad, and the gentle Latin-beat "Tell Me Darling", for future Island Records owner Chris Blackwell in 1959. Probably the most accomplished romantic singer and songwriter that Jamaica ever produced, he always had enough soul in his voice to escape the descent into schmaltz. In 1962, when Blackwell set up Island Records in London, Edwards made the trip to Britain with him. At Island in the early years, his duties included not only singing and songwriting, but also delivering boxes of ska records by bus to the capital's suburban shops. His persistence paid off when, in 1966, the Spencer Davis Group enjoyed two consecutive UK number 1 pop hits with his now classic compositions, "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me". In later years he continued to issue records whose standards of production were variable, but on which his crooning justified his sobriquet of "the original cool ruler".

Listen to Jackie Edwards at Finetune.

• Someone Loves You Honey

• Soul Brothers
• The Scofflaws
• The Specials
• Beres Hammond
• Jimmy Cliff
• Marcia Griffiths
• Alton Ellis
• Ken Boothe
• Phyllis Dillon
• Sugar Minott
• The Melodians
• UB40
• Altons Ellis
• Byron Lee & The Dragonaires
• Cornell Campbell
• Don Drummond
• Don Drummond And The Skatalites
• Eric "Monty" Morris
• Frank Anderson
• Hopeton Lewis