Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Derrick Harriott, arguably the most successful singer/producer in the history of reggae, is one of three persons awarded the Order of Distinction (OD) for their contribution to the development of Jamaican popular music.

Harriott, 70, will receive the award during the National Honours and Awards ceremony, on National Heroes Day, in October. Singer Phyllis Dillon and musician/producer Dean Fraser are the other recipients of the OD, Jamaica's fifth-highest civic honour.

"Awards are nice but I always say, regardless of what happens, it's when people respect your work that really matters," Harriott told The Sunday Gleaner.

Solo act

Harriott started his career in the late 1950s as a member of the Jiving Juniors quartet, but went on to have hit songs as a solo act with Solomon and The Loser. He was still recording hits well into the 1970s and 1980s: Born To Love You, Skin to Skin and Checking Out were his last three chart entries.

As a producer, he was just as successful. His Crystal label had a golden run in the late 1960s with Keith and Tex (Stop That Train, Tonight) and The Kingstonians (Singer Man).

Harriott's stable also included the Chosen Few and deejay Scotty as well as a teenage singer named Dennis Brown, who cut his first record, Lips of Wine, for Crystal.

The Linstead-born Dillon, who died from cancer in New York City in 2004, was a big star of the rocksteady era which lasted from 1966 to 1969. She had several hits for producer Arthur 'Duke' Reid including Perfidia, Don't Touch Me Tomato and The Right Track.

Fraser began recording in the 1970s. The prolific saxophonist has performed with some of the biggest names in reggae, such as Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Sly and Robbie and Black Uhuru.

Fraser is one of contemporary reggae's most successful producers. One of his biggest projects is roots singer Tarrus Riley's outstanding 2006 album, Parables.