Photo: Stephen Clarke
Since 1964 ‘Greggie G’ - musician, song-writer, producer and entrepreneur - has shared the stage with numerous bands, the most memorable being The Memory Of Justice formed in the late 70s. The band included Allan ‘Tabio’ Myles, Lammie Seymour, Jonathan Ebanks and Gary Ebanks. MOJ recorded and released seven albums of which ‘Right on Time’ and ‘Me and My Crew’ gained the most success. ‘Me and My Crew’ went to No. 1 for eight weeks and their song ‘Power’ went to No. 2 on the Caribbean charts. Many of these tracks are still very popular here and in Jamaica.
During those early years Charles had a daytime job but always had the desire to open his own recording studio and work behind the board full time. Then 15 years ago that dream came true with the opening of Hopscotch Studios, which today is considered one of the top high-tech recording studios in the Caribbean. Charles has worked with the likes of Brian McKnight, Tony Bennett, Third World, Steel Pulse, Morgan Heritage, Bob James, Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack and even The Barefoot Man.
Most notable is his involvement with country superstars Rascal Flatts who used Hopscotch for backing vocals work on the album ‘Feels Like Today’ which ended up selling six million copies worldwide. For his work on that album Greggie received a Recording Industry Association of America award, which is proudly displayed in the halls of Hopscotch.
When not tweaking the knobs in his multitrack studio, Greggie and his sons are behind the board at many local events fine-tuning the sound for visiting big name acts or donating their time and equipment to local charity events. And if that doesn’t sound hectic enough Greg has now turned his focus to teaching young musicians. He has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the music programme at John Gray School.
Maybe hectic is the wrong word for Greggie-G’s labour, for as anyone who knows him will tell you he loves what he does, and he is truly the Chairman of the Board. WH
HG Nowak – Better known as “The Barefoot Man” is a regular contributor to What’s Hot. He performs weekly at the Reef Resort in East End. His fun web site – www.barefootman.com – lists his many albums of which several were recorded at Hopscotch Studios.