15-16-17 were, as the name suggests, three teenage girls from Jamaica who made their name singing lovers rock in late-1970s London.

I’m choosing this song to play today because I imagine every person who voted for Reform yesterday would hate it. I certainly hope so (though I doubt any of them are here; I hope not).

They probably hate reggae in general and they would definitely hate three teenage “immigrants” celebrating their opinion that “black skin boys are better.”

I remember this proto-lovers rock song so well, with its militant drum beat and slinky bassline. Sadly I lost my 12-inch when I was burgled by thieves who meticulously went through my record collection. 

The discerning burglars didn’t bother with the Bob Marley stuff and ignored the first two UB40 albums – more fool them – but pilfered most of the rest, including my limited edition George Faith 12-inches. And this.

Sonia Williams, Christine McNabb and her sister Wraydette came from Jamaica (but not on a small boat) and formed in the UK in 1974 in the UK, entering a talent contest at the Georgian club in Croydon run by Dennis’s cousin Castro Brown.

They initially performed as The Gorgon Sisters but changed to 15-16-17 (reflecting the girls’ ages) on Castro’s advice, and won the contest two weeks in a row with a cover version of Louisa Mark’s lovers rock tune Caught You In A Lie.

With Brown producing, the group recorded Black Skin Boy, featuring Dennis Bovell, initially releasing the single on Brown’s Morpheus label. When it folded in 1976 the label went into partnership with DEB.

They made a few other records, including a delightful cover of The Temptations track Just My Imagination, retitled Girls Imagination, which became a hit in the reggae charts, followed by some increasingly soppy lovers rock tunes.

After a while the girls abandoned the genre and reverted to a rootsier style for a tune called I’m Hurt. I remember seeing them, just the once, supporting Gregory Isaacs, before they broke up in the early Eighties.