Dave & Ansel Collins

Dave and Ansel Collins are a Jamaican vocal/instrumental duo (sometimes billed as Dave and Ansil Collins or Dave and Ansell Collins).

History

Dave Barker (born David John Crooks, 10 October 1947, Kingston, Jamaica) is a session vocalist, and Ansel Collins (born 1949, also in Kingston) is a keyboard player. They were working for producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in Kingston in the late 1960s and joined forces in 1970 for the reggae single "Double Barrel". Released in late summer by Techniques Records, part of the Trojan Records label, it topped the Jamaican and UK charts in May of the following year. It was the first record that drummer Sly Dunbar (then aged 18) played on. In the US, the song appeared on an album of the same name, on Big Tree Records (BTS 2005).

The follow-up release, the similarly styled "Monkey Spanner" also enjoyed international success. Most of their recorded work was written by Winston Riley. After cutting an album, Collins and Barker parted company; Collins becoming a session player and Barker, now resident in the United Kingdom, singing with several soul groups. They attempted a comeback in 1981 without success.

In 1986, Ansel Collins appeared as one of Ernest...

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