Noel Simms

Noel Bartholomew Simms (18 March 1935 – 4 February 2017), better known by his nickname and artistic names Scully or Zoot, was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae percussionist and vocalist.

Biography

Born in the Smith Village area of Kingston in 1935 and educated at the Alpha Boys School, he initially worked as a singer in a duo with his schoolfriend Arthur "Bunny" Robinson, known as Simms & Robinson and later Bunny & Scully. The duo won the Vere Johns talent contest two years running and were the first Jamaican artists to make R&B records on the island, starting with acetates for sound system use in 1953 (previous Jamaican-made singles were calypso). They went on to release singles in the early 1960s for producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, with Simms also recording solo sides for Prince Buster, and as part of another duo, Simms & Elmond. He was one of the first Jamaican musicians to use Amharic phrases in songs after learning them from Rasta leader Mortimer Planno, with tracks such as "Golden Pen" and "Press Along" in the early 1960s.

As a percussionist, he has performed as a member of several bands, including the Aggrovators, the Upsetters, the Revolutionaries, and Roots Radics...

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