The Overtakers & The Mellotones Recordings

Complete Discography 

The Overtakers (Leo Graham, Wesley Nelson, Rita Nelson)

1967 - Matador

Risk You A Run / Beware 

Right Now / Unresistable You

Produced by Lloyd The Matador Daly

Songs recorded but not released - White Ram, Try Me.

*Beware appears to only have the voices of Leo and Wesley on it.

*Try Me described as "mento sounding."

The Overtakers (Leo Graham, Wesley Nelson, Samuel Lowe)

1968 - Amalgamated Records

Girl You Ruff

Produced by Lee Perry. Backing Band: Lynn Taitt & The Jets

The Overtakers (Leo Graham, Wesley Nelson, Samuel Lowe, Winston Francis)

1968 - Shock Records

That's The Way You Like It / The Big Takeover

Produced by Lee Perry. Backing Band: Lynn Taitt & The Jets

The Mellotones (Leo Graham, Wesley Nelson, Samuel Lowe, Winston Francis)

1968 - Amalgamated Records

Fat Girl In Red

Produced by Lee Perry. Backing Band: Lynn Taitt & The Jets

Feel Good

Produced by Sonia Pottinger. Backing Band: Lynn Taitt & The Jets

1968 - Prince Buster

Come Along (aka Bachelor Boy)

What Can I Say

Fly Away (aka I'll Be Around, Hy There)

No Good Girl (additional vocals by Mello)

Produced by Prince Buster

Fly Away & No Good Girl written by Cornel Campbell

1968 - Beverly's Records

Let's Join Together

Banana Water

Produced by Leslie Kong

1968 - Upsetter

None Such

Uncle Charley

Uncle Desmond

What A Botheration

Produced by Lee Perry

1969 - Camel

Facts of Life

Produced by Lee Perry

The Mellotones (Samuel Lowe, Wesley Nelson, Winston Francis)

1969 - Upsetter

Dry Up Your Tears

Produced by Lee Perry

1969 - Grape

Lover Come Back

Produced by Lloyd Deslandes

Mello & The Mellotones (Mello, Samuel Lowe, Wesley Nelson, Winston Francis)

1969

Haile Selassie I

Old Man River

Build My World Around You

Produced by Clancy Eccles

Confirmed recordings with Mellotones backing (Leo Graham aren't on these)

Lee Perry - People Funny Boy

Clancy Eccles - Festival 68, Dollar Train, Fattie Fattie, Shu Be Du, Auntie Lulu, World Needs Loving

Note: Go On & Tug O War are yet to be confirmed.  Winston said that these didn't sound familiar but it's possible that Mello could have sung them and it was credited to Mellotones.  I personally don't think they are of Mello or the group.  

The song Work It that appears on Escort in the UK are them but where this fits in their timeline is still a bit of a question.  Winston said he doesn't remember recording it but it sounds familiar. It definitely is The Mellotones but I wonder if it's a song Winston just didn't sing on? I'm not sure on this. Is it possible it was recorded after Winston left? Is it possible The Mellotones existed without Winston a little later than Wesley remembers? All speculation on my part of course. Maybe it was recorded around the time as Banana Water, but it sounds a lot cleaner than those recordings. 

I have a thought on other possible recordings that they backed singers on but since they aren't confirmed, these would be just my opinion and I don't want to spread misinformation.  Winston told me that they sang with a lot of people.  Wesley Nelson, who was interviewed by Kenneth Bilby, mentioned the same names Winston did to me.  Some of these names are Jimmy London, The Ethiopians, The Pioneers, Eric Morris, Bob Marley, Brent Dowe, The Melodians, Tony Gregory, Jimmy Cliff.

It's also worth mentioning that any recordings with "Clancy's All Stars" will have backing from The Mellotones.  Winston explains that when they played live, they used that name.

The "Lee Perry Audition"

In my first draft of the article, I write that The Overtakers auditioned for Studio One and were taken from Coxonne by Lee Perry. 

When I first read Ken's interview with Wesley, he said that in 1967, they went to audition at Studio One. Separately, Winston also told me this. But it's come to my attention from fellow researchers that this is impossible. Lee Perry left Studio One in 1966. While it's probable that Winston and Wesley have their dates wrong, I chose to have it edited out of the article. I don't doubt that it happened at all. It gives me an answer to how they met Lee to begin with but according to Lee's history, in 1967 he was working with WIRL studios. It could be surmised that he was still in Studio One in early 1967 but the audition supposedly took place post September 1967, after Rita Nelson died.  Another thing that makes this impossible is that Carl Finlay told me that Studio One was temporarily shut down in late 67. So we may never know when this audition actually took place or if it was actually at WIRL instead. But it's a good thing to note. They met Lee Perry somewhere around 66-67. 

Some stories behind the songs

Fat Girl In Red

This is a new addition to the blog.  Thanks to the great Ken Bilby, he has brought to my attention that "Fat Girl In Red" is actually a cover song of sorts.  Two 1935 recordings, one by country singer Elton Britt called "The Lady in Red" and another by Victor Young & His Orchestra also called "The Lady in Red."  This fact brings two things to mind that appeared in my research. Firstly, Leo Graham was said to be a big fan of country music and second, Winston kept referring to the song as "Lady in Red."  I didn't question him on this, chalking it up to the fact that this is him mixing words up.  

Here is the information about the Elton Britt recording taken from a YouTube video.

[Written by Mort Dixon - Allie Wrubel] From 1935 Warner Bros. Picture "In Caliente" Recorded April 1935 by Joe Haymes and His Orchestra. Issued as Pappy, Zeke, Ezra and Elton on Decca 5126 A. Recorded 23 July 1935 - Decca Recording Studio, Pythian Temple, 135 West 70th., New York City - Ted "Pappy" Bellow [gt/vcl], Zeke Manners [accordion], Charlie "Ezra" Heatherington [vcl], Elton Britt [yodelling/gt/vcl], Producer David Kapp.

Here is the information on the Victor Young recording

Vocal chorus: Milton Watson. Words & music: Mort Dixon & Allie Wrubel. Song features in the 1935 Warner Bros. musical film "In Caliente".

Here is information on the 1935 film "In Caliente" taken from Wikipedia

In Caliente (also known as Viva Señorita) is a 1935 American romantic musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Dolores del Río and Pat O'Brien. The film was written by Ralph Block and Warren Duff. The musical numbers were choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It was released by Warner Bros. on May 25, 1935.

None Such

There was a race horse named None Such and they used to give horses a tonic for nutritional boosts.  Wesley explained to Ken Bilby as well as Winston explaining to me that they had the idea and wrote it down together, auditioning it acapella for Lee Perry.  He loved it and went to the studio to record the rhythm track.  They later went to the studio and laid down the vocals.  It was a big hit for them and sold a lot of copies.  

Uncle Charley and Uncle Desmond

According to Wesley Nelson in an interview with Kenneth Bilby, Charlie Babcock was a radio announcer that was a drunk.  They wrote the song about him and when he heard it, he was really mad.  He wouldn't play the song on the radio but a man by the name of Desmond Chambers loved it.  He was a horse race announcer and had a bit of a feud with Charlie.  So they rewrote the song and released a separate version for Desmond.  

Fly Away and No Good Girl

Cornel Campbell wrote both of these songs but didn't intend to record them himself at the time.  Winston said that Cornel was apart of Prince Buster's All Stars and he offered both songs to them when they worked with Buster.  Both of these recordings feature a 5th harmony part by Wesley Nelson's cousin known as Mello.  Winston said that they were training him in singing and they would invite him to record with them.  He ended up on both of these recordings.  He would later sing lead on the Clancy Eccles produced songs of Haile Selessie, Old Man River, and Build My World Around You.

A Bit about Rita Nelson

I want to write a little bit about Rita if I can.  For a long time, it was unknown who Rita was, what her actual name was or what she died of.  In Rich Lowe's book on The Matador, it was written down that her name was "Barbara." This was the first time anyone really ever knew of Rita Nelson.  Ken Bilby did interview Wesley in 2005 and Welsey talks about her.  I believe this interview is where Rich gets her name from.  

There were rumors that she died of typhoid. Wesley never said how she died in his interview with Ken.  I was able to find a death certificate through an online archive that matched her name, address, hometown and the date made sense according to Rich and Ken's reporting.  It was the first time this fact ever came to light. Why you may ask I would go through all this trouble for a person who sang on 3 recordings?  I don't know! It just didnt sit right with me I guess.  While it's not Wesley's obligation to tell anyone and his right to keep it private, and I respect that, I just felt the whole story needed completion finally after all these years.  

What happened to Sammy Lowe?

This is a big question mark for me.  It was hard to find Winston Francis, but once I did and I realized where he had been and what he was doing, it was a "duh" moment for me.  I had more clues to go on though, thanks to Ken's great reporting.  What happened to Sammy though?  Winston said he had been trying to find him for years along with Wesley.  They both have no idea what happened to him.  My research led me to two singles he produced with Lloyd Deslandes and then nothing.  Funnily enough, there is a documentary about a man named Samuel Lowe.  It's called "Finding Samuel Lowe" and has to do with Jamaica but unfortunately, this isn't our Sammy.  The quest to find Sammy will continue until I have an answer and I can update this post.

One note about The Overtakers

Around the internet and in groups, I have seen people attribute the current group The Overtakers, who are street buskers, to the Joe Gibbs recordings.  I do not know where this comes from unless someone just wrote down whatever they felt like without checking.  This isn't true at all. Not only from the members themselves, yes I emailed them, but from Winston and Wesley who talk about the songs Girl You Ruff, Thats The Way You Like It and The Big Takeover in Ken's and my interviews.