Born April 22, 1927 on Cuba, Laurel Aitken moved to Jamaica with his family as a child. In the 1950s, he became one of Jamaica's first recording artists, standing on the edge between r'n'b, boogie and ska. In the 1960s Aitken moved to England, where he managed to score a few chart hits and continued to play with various ska bands until his death from a heart attack in 2005, July 17.