The Upsetters

The Upsetters were a young quartet of guitarist Alva Lewis, organist Glen Adams and brothers Aston 'Family Man' Barrett and Carlton Barrett, on bass and drums respectively. The group also recorded as The Hippy Boys. From 1968 until 1972 they were the houseband of Lee Perry. In the autumn of 1969 they had a UK hitsingle (5) with the instrumental "Return of Django", a typical example of "skinhead reggae".

The Upsetters also played with Bob Marley and his band after a conflict with Coxsone Dodd.



As Lee Perry's studio band for the Upsetter label. Formed in 1968 the Upsetters had three distinct line-ups. The first line-up was comprised of Gladdy Anderson & Winston Wright (keyboards), Jackie Jackson (bass), Hugh Malcom & Lloyd "Tin Legs" Adams (drums). This line-up was also known as Gladdy's All-Stars. They recorded "Man from MI5", "Return of Django" & "Live Injection" with Perry.

In 1969, Perry was approached to go on tour in Europe, but Gladdy's All-Stars were not able to make the trip. Perry turned to another young band called The Hippy Boys who were working with Edward "Bunny" Lee. The Hippy Boys consisted of Glen Adams (keyboards), Alva "Reggie" Lewis (guitar) Aston "Family Man" Barrett (bass) and Carlton Barrett (drums).

After the European tour Perry and the Upsetters worked closely with The Wailers up until their falling out in 1971. The Barrett brothers went on with Bob Marley at this juncture.

By 1972, The Upsetters were a true "floating" band. Perry decided to forego a permanent line-up and simply used the best musicians he could find at the time.

During the Black Ark era (1974 - 1979), the core of the band was Boris Gardiner (bass), Mikey Richards, Sly Dunbar, and Benbow Creary (drums), Earl "Chinna" Smith (guitar), and Winston Wright and Keith Stirling (keyboards).

The Upsetters 1968 - 1986