Tenor Saw

Clive Bright (2 December 1966 – 13 August 1988), better known as Tenor Saw, was a Jamaican dancehall singjay in the 1980s, considered one of the most influential singers of the early digital reggae era. His best-known song was the 1985 hit "Ring the Alarm" on the "Stalag" riddim.

Biography Born in Victoria Jubilee Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica, Bright was raised as the fourth of six children in the Payne Land, Maverley and Olympic Gardens areas of West Kingston before the family settled in Duhaney Park. Bright had a religious upbringing and sang in the Seventh-day Adventist Church of God choir in Olympic Gardens. He moved on, with his friend Nitty Gritty, to work with Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion sound system and Black Roots Records label, having hits in Jamaica with the prophetic, symbolic, visionary "Lots of Sign" social awareness discomix, the Jamaican proverb-based "Pumpkin Belly", built on the Sleng Teng rhythm, "Run Come Call Me", and "Fever". his official cause of death was a closed head injury and bumper injuries complicated by a lung infection.

Tenor Saw is regarded as one of the most influential singers of the early digital reggae era of the mid-1980s.

Big Audio Dynamite sampled "Ring the Alarm" in their song "Rewind" on their 1989 album Megatop Phoenix.

English Hip Hop duo The Nextmen also references Tenor Saw, as well as the song "Ring the Alarm" on their 2000 composition Amongst the Madness.

A short excerpt from "Ring the Alarm" ("Watch the soundman a-tremble, watch the soundman afraid...") is used in the opening credits of Mark Ronson's 2021 six-episode docuseries Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson, about the use of various types of technology in modern pop music.

Sublime's cover of the Bob Marley and Wailers song "Jailhouse", is essentially a medley, heavily borrowing from the song "Roll Call".

Sublime's song "Caress Me Down" uses the Sleng Teng riddim – which Tenor Saw helped to popularize with his song "Pumpkin Belly".

Albums Clash (1985) Witty (with Don Angelo) Fever (1986) Blue Mountain/RAS Wake the Town: Tribute to Tenor Saw (1992) Strictly Livestock (1986) Greensleeves (with Various Artists) Clash (1987) Witty (with Cocoa Tea) Tenor Saw Lives On (1992) Sky High With Lots Signs (2003) Jet Star (Tenor Saw meets Nitty Gritty) Tenor Saw Meets Nitty Gritty (2008) VP