Three-part harmony and the roots message

Roots harmony group led by Roy Cousins, whose "Pick Up the Pieces" and self-produced "Ten Years After" are prized examples of independent 1970s vocal reggae.

The Rastafari-informed reggae that dominated the 1970s: themes of repatriation, Babylon and deliverance over one-drop drumming and heavy bass. Burning Spear, Culture, the Abyssinians, Black Uhuru and the international-era Wailers defined it, Island and Virgin carried it abroad, and its seriousness remains the reference point every revival reaches for.

The Gladiators, the roots reggae group led by Albert Griffiths, with Clinton Fearon and Donald Webber in the classic lineup, had already been cutting occasional singles and backing vocals around Studio One and Treasure Isle in the late 1960s before working with Clive Chin and Lee "Scratch" Perry in 1970-71 and deepening their roots orientation. Coxsone Dodd brought them back to Studio One as a full act in 1973, valuing that, unlike some other roots artists he signed, they wrote and arranged their own material in the conventional verse and chorus style he was comfortable producing.

Singer and songwriter (Harris "BB" Seaton) who led the rocksteady harmony trio The Gaylads and recorded extensively at Studio One before a solo and songwriting career.

Jamaican singer and producer, the "Armagideon Man": his "Armagideon Time", cut at Studio One in 1977 on the Real Rock rhythm with Jackie Mittoo arranging, became one of the most covered messages in reggae after The Clash put it on the flip of "London Calling". Williams has been a Canadian story since 1974, splitting his life between Toronto and Kingston: he worked the Toronto scene beside Mittoo and the Studio One expatriates, kept releasing his own singles and albums, and toured with Dennis Brown, Augustus Pablo and Aswad through the 1980s and 1990s.

Roots singer and producer (Vivian Jackson, 1946-2010) whose 1972 "Conquering Lion" gave him his nickname; he founded the Prophets label and made landmark dub sides with King Tubby. He died on 12 January 2010 in Clarendon. Born in Kingston in 1946 and also known as Jesus Dread, he wrote "Conquering Lion", "Rally Round Jahovah", "Jah Vengeance", "Deliver Me From My Enemies", "Love Thy Neighbour", "Deliverance", "Ballistic Dread Locks", "Dread Locks Man", "Black Starliner" and "Natty Bongo", and produced Michael Prophet, Michael Rose, Jah Stitch, Trinity, Tony Tuff and Wayne Wade.

The Gaylads were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal group formed in Kingston in 1963, whose core comprised Harris "B. B." Seaton, Winston Delano Stewart and Maurice Roberts. They gained popularity recording at Studio One with Coxsone Dodd from 1966, with hits such as "Stop Making Love," "Joy in the Morning" and the earlier "Lady with the Red Dress," and issued the album Soul Beat. After original members emigrated, Maurice Roberts (1935–2005) continued the group before eventually renaming it the Psalms.

Nyabinghi drummer and singer who formed the Sons of Negus in the early 1960s and carried Rastafari ceremonial rhythm into roots reggae on albums such as "Rastafari" and "Dadawah.".

Clarendon harmony duo of Vernon Buckley and Gladstone Grant who recorded for Alvin Ranglin's GG's label and contributed "Money Worries" to the Rockers soundtrack.

The Abyssinians are a Jamaican roots reggae harmony group formed in 1968 by Bernard Collins with brothers Donald and Lynford Manning. Their 1969 recording "Satta Massagana," a Rastafarian hymn sung partly in Amharic, became one of the most influential roots tracks ever made and helped set the blueprint for the roots movement, later anchoring their acclaimed 1976 album of the same name. The group split around 1980 but the original lineup reunited in 1998.

The Mighty Diamonds were a Jamaican vocal harmony trio formed in Kingston in 1969, comprising Donald "Tabby" Shaw, Fitzroy "Bunny" Simpson and Lloyd "Judge" Ferguson. They became one of the defining roots-reggae harmony groups of the 1970s, most celebrated for the 1976 album "Right Time," recorded at Channel One with the Revolutionaries and produced by Joseph Hoo Kim, and for the single "Pass the Kouchie." The group performed and recorded for decades until lead singer Tabby Shaw was killed in 2022.