Joseph Abraham Gordon, known as Lord Tanamo, was born on 2 October 1934 in Surrey, Kingston, Jamaica. Raised in Denham Town, he was inspired by Lord Kitchener and early mento rhythms, performing calypsos with Cecil Lawes and recording for Stanley Motta before joining a group that featured Theophilus Beckford and Ernest Ranglin. His 1960 single "Blues Have Got Me Down" marked his first chart presence. In the early 1960s he helped pioneer ska, recording for Clement Dodd, Duke Reid, and Lindon Pottinger and singing with the Skatalites on tracks such as "Come Down" and "I'm in the Mood for Ska"; he won the 1965 festival song contest with "Come Down" and later recorded a reggae cover of Tony Joe White’s Number 1 hit in 1970. Moving to Canada in the mid‑1970s, he opened the Record Nook shop and returned to Jamaica to record Calypso Reggae (1979) for Bunny Lee. He released Festival Jump Up (1965) and compilations In the Mood for Ska (1993), Best Place in the World (2000), and All the Best (2020). His 1990 ska rendition of "I'm in the Mood for Love" reached number 58 on the UK Singles Chart after a Paxo commercial. He performed with the Skatalites into the 2000s, including the 2002 “Legends of Ska” concerts in Toronto, which were filmed for a 2014 release. After a stroke in 2008, he spent his final years in a Canadian nursing home and died in Toronto on 19 April 2016.
