Ambelique

b. Owen George Anthony Silvera, c.1956, Waltham Park, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Ambelique was considered to be a late starter in the music business as it was generally supposed that his major breakthrough came in the mid-90s. The music’s commentators concentrated on the fact that he had been a bank clerk turned reggae singer without acknowledging his early involvement in the Jamaican music industry. In reality Ambelique began his career in the late 60s with Derrick Harriott And The Crystalites, under the guise of Ramon The Mexican. He was the resident DJ on Harriott’s Musical Chariot sound system and with the Crystalites recorded, ‘The Undertaker’. The song featured Ambelique and Harriott performing a parody of the spaghetti western, A Fistful Of Dollars when they mimicked the dialogue between Clint Eastwood and the character of the undertaker. In deference to this particular film industry he recorded a sequel, ‘The Overtaker’ where he claimed, ‘Ramon won’t like this’. Both songs later featured on Trojan Records’ The Undertaker in 1970. These tracks also appeared alongside his other releases, ‘Golden Chickens’ and ‘Undertaker Burial’, on the 1999 release For A Few Dollars More.


While with Harriott, Ambelique additionally performed in live concerts alongside artists such as, Scotty and the Chosen Few before relocating to the Bronx in New York City, USA. By 1971 he was performing alongside Bunny Rugs in the Hugh Hendricks And The Buccaneers band on a hectic tour of the USA. The duo remained with the band until 1976 by which time Bunny Rugs had left to join Third World. Following his departure from the group Ambelique performed part-time with a number of bands as family commitments influenced his decision to work in the secure world of banking in California. In 1989, he returned to full time work in the music industry and five years later formed an allegiance with Sly And Robbie’s Taxi Gang, who produced, ‘Quando Quando’. While with Taxi Gang he released ‘Groove With You’, ‘Seems Like You Ready’ in combination with Captain Barkey and ‘La Bamba’ with Chevelle Franklin. Ambelique also performed on the acclaimed Sly And Robbie release, Friends. Following the success of their collaboration with Mick Hucknall of Simply Red on ‘Night Nurse’, Sly And Robbie issued Ambelique’s version of Lionel Richie’s ‘Penny Lover’. Ambelique also provided vocals to a version of the Rolling Stones ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, which is notable for the fact that Keith Richards played on the session. By the late 90s Ambelique’s notoriety flourished with a series of hits such as, ‘Lonely Soldier’, ‘I Want You’, ‘Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ and ‘Stick To The Task’, which proved his ‘overnight success’ was not to be considered a momentary triumph.