The Jolly Boys

Before reggae, ska and rocksteady was mento. Often mistaken for calypso, which originated in Trinidad and Tobago, mento is a purely Jamaican style, acoustic and rural. The Jolly Boys formed in 1955 after the disbanding of the Navy Island Swamp Boys, famed for being Erroll Flynn's preferred band for his yacht parties. In the sixties and seventies, The Jolly Boys performed mainly in hotels and clubs in Jamaica and the USA. It wasn't until 1989 that The Jolly Boys released their first album Pop 'n' Mento. This was followed by Beer Joint & Tailoring (1991) and Sunshine n' Water (1991), while two groups competed for The Jolly Boys label. Reunited as a single group in 2006, The Jolly Boys released Great Expectation in 2010, featuring covers of international songs revisited in mento style.