The eighties were a particularly difficult time for Jamaican singers: reggae music, on record and live and direct, was dominated by deejays and a singer had to be very, very special to encroach on the talking artists' monopoly on popularity. Only a handful of singers had the style and stamina to take on the challenge and musical maestros such as Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul and Michael 'Lick Shot' Palmer stood head and shoulders above the competition. Michael Palmer, also known as Palmer Dog, was one of the most popular and successful vocalists of the dance hall era and had risen to prominence on the sound system circuit by employing similar improvisatory techniques at the mic.. He certainly needed them to stay ahead of the fierce competition from the sound system deejays who were turning reggae music away from its international ambitions and returning it to its origins in the dance halls of Jamaica.
