Jackie Jackson

Clifton Jackson was born on 23 March 1947 and grew up in central Kingston. His mother's side of the family was full of musicians. Uncle Luther Williams led popular north-coast orchestras, and aunt Mavis Williams taught him piano in Spanish Town on weekends. He followed Coxsone Dodd's sound system as a boy and soaked up rhythm and blues and Motown, especially James Jamerson's bass. After struggling with formal piano studies he switched to upright bass after watching Lloyd Brevett with the Skatalites at Success Club, then moved to bass guitar as the instrument became practical for dance-band work.

When the Skatalites broke up, Tommy McCook recruited Jackson into the Supersonics. At his first Duke Reid session in 1967 he played on Alton Ellis's "Girl I've Got a Date," a foundational rocksteady record whose bass figure later resurfaced in "The Liquidator" and "I'll Take You There." He became a Treasure Isle mainstay with McCook, guitarists Lynn Taitt and Hux Brown, keyboardists Gladstone Anderson and Winston Wright, and drummer Winston Grennan, also working for Leslie Kong, Joe Gibbs, Lloyd Daley and Sonia Pottinger.

At Kong's Beverley's label, as part of Beverley's All-Stars, Jackson played on Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" and recordings by Nicky Thomas, Bob Marley, Ken Boothe and Toots and the Maytals. After meeting Toots Hibbert he played on "Pressure Drop," on Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" (1971) and on Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come soundtrack. Later credits included Herbie Mann, Garland Jeffreys and Lee "Scratch" Perry.

From the early 1970s Jackson was a member of Toots Hibbert's touring band. The Maytals opened for Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles and kept touring for decades. He influenced later reggae bassists including Aston "Family Man" Barrett and Robbie Shakespeare. In 2005 he won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album with Toots and the Maytals. In 2018 JARIA awarded him for exceptional contribution to the reggae industry. He was married to singer Karen Smith.

Jackson was admitted to Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay and remained there for nearly two months. He died on 23 September 2026, aged 79. The Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer reported the death the same day. Shadow minister Nekeisha Burchell issued a tribute stressing his six-decade career, his partnership with Karen Smith, and the continuing work of their daughter Courtni.

Jackson attended music school in Kingston and later described the Supersonics years as a university. Before Treasure Isle he spent about two years with Ty and the Titans, stepping in when bassist Bumps Jackson walked out of a rehearsal, and then more than a year with Lester Sterling's Cavaliers. Those Kingston dance-band apprenticeships taught him repertoire at speed and put him in earshot of the players who would build ska and rocksteady.

Tommy McCook recruited him into the Supersonics and brought him to Duke Reid's Treasure Isle, where Jackson became the house bassist of the rocksteady era. "Girl I've Got a Date," "Queen Majesty," Melodians sides and festival hits made his lines a template other producers chased. He freelanced widely for Leslie Kong, Sonia Pottinger, Joe Gibbs and others, playing on Desmond Dekker's "Israelites," Jimmy Cliff film and hit sides, Wailers sessions for Beverley's, and Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion." From the early 1970s he toured the world with Toots and the Maytals for about fifty years, opening for major rock acts and anchoring albums including work that earned the group a 2005 Grammy for Best Reggae Album.

Jackson married Jamaican singer Karen Smith. Together they were closely associated with western Jamaica's hotel and entertainment circuit; Smith also led musicians' union work before her death in 2021. He is survived by four daughters, Marie, Courtni, Jheanell and Jhanine. Courtni has pursued a singing career, and public tributes after his death stressed a household that practised music as craft across generations. In later years he lived and worked around Montego Bay, mentoring younger artists while remaining an active player.

In interviews Jackson refused to crown himself inventor of rocksteady or reggae, joking that everyone wanted to be Christopher Columbus. He argued the song's feel should dictate the rhythm and that Jamaican session playing came from the heart more than from charts. He called rocksteady the greatest Jamaican genre, credited Treasure Isle with letting him develop without fear, and late in life insisted mentoring youth about reggae history was paramount because the music would keep inspiring new generations.

Jackson's bass helped define rocksteady's pocket and carried into early reggae hits heard worldwide. Lines associated with Ellis, Dekker, Cliff, the Melodians and the Maytals have been widely sampled and covered. Family Man Barrett and Robbie Shakespeare pointed younger players toward him. Politicians and peers after his death framed him as part of the instrumental generation whose names were often missing from sleeves while their sound carried Jamaica abroad.

As a member of Toots and the Maytals he shared the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. In 2012 he received the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, for contribution to Jamaican music. In 2018 the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association honoured him for exceptional contribution to the reggae industry. He also received a Sam Sharpe Award later celebrated in press portraits.

Long interviews with United Reggae (2016) and the Jamaica Observer (including a 2025 career conversation) preserve his accounts of Treasure Isle, Duke Reid's studio guns, the Paul Simon session, and touring with Toots. Reggaeville's Take Me Places series filmed him in Kingston discussing "Girl I've Got a Date." Documentary and interview footage circulating after his death has kept those stories in front of new listeners.

Jackson's main public professional clash was with Duke Reid, who wanted him exclusive to Treasure Isle while other musicians freelanced. He left for about six months; Reid's sessions cooled until the producer asked him back. He generally avoided fights over who "invented" rocksteady or reggae, treating those claims as unhelpful to the music.