The Jolly Boys

The Jolly Boys are a mento band from Port Antonio, Jamaica. It was formed in 1945 and had great commercial success in the late 1980s and 1990s among reggae and world music fans. They released a new album in 2010 Great Expectation and are currently the house band at GeeJam, a hotel in Port Antonio.

Early history

The Jolly Boys grew out of a group called the Navy Island Swamp Boys that formed on 11 April 1945, and often played at Errol Flynn's parties. This group included Moses Deans on banjo and guitar, Noel Lynch on Guitar and "Papa" Brown on rumba box. After this group split in 1955, Deans and Brown formed The Jolly Boys (a name Errol Flynn is said to have coined) with Derrick "Johnny" Henry on maracas and drum, Martell Brown on guitar, and David "Sonny" Martin on guitar. One of the group's regular substitutes in this period was percussionist Allan Swymmer, who joined the group as a full member in the 1960s. This group was very popular throughout Port Antonio and earned the reputation of being the finest mento band in the parish.

1960s

In the early 1960s, the Jolly Boys' reputation grew substantially. It performed at hotels and for private parties, often alongside...

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