Who cashed in on The Liquidator?
AL Jackson Jnr was a member of one of the hottest bands in music when he visited Jamaica in 1969.
An African-American, Jackson was the drummer for Booker T and the MGs, a bi-racial quartet that also included organist Booker T Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn.
One of the stops Jackson made during his stay in Kingston was the recording studio of producer Harry ‘Harry J’ Johnson.
In a 2000 interview with the Jamaica Observer, Johnson (who died Wednesday in Westmoreland at age 68) recalled meeting Jackson and giving him two copies of his label’s latest production.
The name of the song was The Liquidator, an instrumental done by Johnson’s house band, the Harry J All Stars.
Built around organist Winston Wright’s brilliant soloing, The Liquidator was a strong seller in the United Kingdom in 1969.
It was the biggest success for Johnson, a former insurance salesman who started producing in 1966.
Three years after his meeting with Jackson, Johnson got the shock of his life when he heard a song by gospel group, The Staple Singers, named I’ll Take You There.
Its intro was eerily similar to The Liquidator’s.
“I had no doubt it was our song. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it,” Johnson said.
The Staples Singers were signed to Stax Records, a Memphis, Tennessee record company that helped make Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes famous.
Booker T and the MGs were the house band at Stax.
I’ll Take You There was a monster hit and became a rallying cry for the black power movement in the United States.
Johnson said he took aggressive steps to collect royalties from Stax but made little headway with the company which folded in 1975.
Al Jackson Jnr, who played on many of the hit songs at Stax, was killed at his Memphis home that year.
The Liquidator lives on. It was the beat for Lieutenant Stitchie’s hit song Night And Day and is the theme song for the Chelsea Football Club.