Ken Parker

Kenneth L. Farquharson Like many of Jamaica's singers of the era, Parker began by singing in church, where his father was a preacher. He formed a group called the Blues Benders in the mid-1960s, and their first recording was "Honeymoon by the Sea". The group arranged to audition for Coxsone Dodd, but due to a misunderstanding, Parker was the only member to turn up, so he auditioned as a soloist, impressing Dodd sufficiently to launch his solo career. record labels, Uhuru, Tamoki, Wambesi, Dove & Tamoki-Wambesi/Tamoki Wambesi Dove, backed by the Roots Radics on tunes like “What Kind of World,” a compassionate meditation on poverty and the vanity of materialistic prisms on life. He continued to perform occasionally but did not return to recording until the early 1980s, setting up his own record label and production company, releasing gospel records. He later moved to Florida. In April 2014, he performed to a sold-out show at the International Ska and Reggae Festival in London.

Parker died on 22 February 2025, a day before his 77th birthday.

Discography Albums Keep Your Eyes on Jesus (1968) Studio One/Tabernacle Jimmy Brown (1974) Trojan Here Comes Ken Parker (1974) A Touch of Inspiration (1984) Pisces I Shall Not Be Moved (1984) Pisces Jesus on the Main Line (1985) Pisces The Key (1990) Body Music

Compilation albums A Glint of Gold (1986) Pisces The Best of: Groovin' in Style! (2003) Trojan