Freddie McKay – I’m A Free Man

29th August 2021 · 1970s, 1973, Music, Reggae

Freddie McKay emerged as a rocksteady singer in the late 1960s with Prince Buster and Coxsone Dodd, recording at the Studio One and Treasure Isle labels.

His biggest hit was Picture On The Wall, with The Soul Defenders, but this tune from 1973, featuring the great Augustus Pablo and his melodica, is a highlight of his career.

His career wasn’t helped by at least one of his late-Sixties rocksteady singles, Love Is A Treasure, being mis-credited to another artist – and again, to a different artist, when it was re-released in the early Seventies.

Thankfully he gets the proper credit for this great tune, featuring an excellent dub by Carl Prehay.

He died in 1986 and his son, Andrew Chin, aka Brushy One String, is now a musician, known for playing a one-stringed guitar.