Editing Delroy Wilson (section)

==Biography==
Delroy Wilson began his recording career at the age of thirteen, while still a pupil at Boys Town Primary School.<ref name="Royal">"[http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131006/ent/ent7.html Wilson Finally Gets His Due – Posthumous National Honour To Follow 65th Anniversary]", ''[[Jamaica Gleaner]]'', 6 October 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013</ref> Wilson released his first single "Emy Lou"{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} in 1962 for record producer, [[Coxsone Dodd|Clement "Coxsone" Dodd]]. His early years with Coxsone yielded a number of ska hits, the biggest of which, the [[Lee "Scratch" Perry|Lee Perry]]-written "Joe Liges" was an attack on rival producer and former Dodd employee [[Prince Buster]].<ref name="Royal" /><ref name="Larkin">Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, {{ISBN|0-7535-0242-9}}</ref> This was followed by another Perry-written attack on Buster, "Spit in the Sky". Further singles followed, including "One Two Three", "I Shall Not Remove", "Look Who Is Back Again" (a duet with [[Slim Smith]]), and another anti-Buster song, "Prince [[Pharaoh]]", notably the only record featuring the voice of Dodd himself.<ref name="Larkin" /><ref name="Barrow">Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, {{ISBN|1-84353-329-4}}</ref> He is regarded as Jamaica's first child star.<ref name="Royal" />

His voice matured as he left his teens, around the time of ska's transition to [[rocksteady]] and this period in the late 1960s produced many [[Chart-topper|hit]]s including one of the first rocksteady records, "Dancing Mood", "Jerk in Time" (with [[the Wailers]]), "Feel Good All Over", "I'm Not a King", "True Believer in Love", "Rain From the Skies", "Conquer Me" and "Riding for a Fall".<ref name="Royal" /> "Won't You Come Home", a duet with [[Ken Boothe]] on a rhythm originally cut by The Conquerors for [[Sonia Pottinger]] has become one of the most-versioned Jamaican tracks ever.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} After leaving [[Studio One (record label)|Studio One]] he recorded for other labels, with varying degrees of success, and set up his own short-lived ''W&C'' label.<ref name="allmusic" /> He enjoyed success with [[Bunny Lee]] in the late 1960s and early 1970s with tracks such as "This Old Heart of Mine", "Footsteps of Another Man", and "Better Must Come". His double A-side "It Hurts"/"Put Yourself in My Place" was a [[skinhead]] favourite and narrowly missed UK chart success. He recorded a version of "Run Run", a song he had originally recorded for Dodd, for maverick producer [[Keith Hudson]].<ref name="Barrow" />

Wilson toured the UK and [[sound recording and reproduction|recorded]] for [[Trojan Records]] in 1970.<ref name="allmusic" />

In 1972, [[Michael Manley]]'s [[People's National Party]] chose Wilson's "Better Must Come" as their election campaign song.<ref name="Royal" /><ref name="Larkin" /> The same year saw the release of one of his most popular songs, "Cool Operator", which became his nickname. He worked with a string of producers in the years that followed, including [[Joe Gibbs (record producer)|Joe Gibbs]] ("Mash Up Illiteracy", "Pretty Girl"), [[Gussie Clarke]] ("Love"), [[Niney the Observer|Winston "Niney" Holness]] ("Rascal Man"), [[Harry J]] ("Ask The Lonely"), and [[Joseph Hoo Kim]] ("It's a Shame").<ref name="Larkin" />

In 1976, he recorded a cover of [[The Wailers (1963-1974 band)|The Wailers]]' "I'm Still Waiting" for [[Lloyd Charmers]], which was hugely popular, and enjoyed some cross-over success, and was followed by the album ''[[Sarge (album)|Sarge]]'', which is considered one of his strongest.<ref name="Barrow" /> Also a [[Bob Andy]] produced song, "The Last Thing on My Mind" rose to [[Chart-topper|number one]] in Jamaica. Wilson continued to be successful until the end of the decade, but his career floundered during the early 1980s, with releases less common.<ref name="Larkin" /> His fortunes revived in the digital age with releases for [[King Jammy]] ("Don't Put The Blame on Me") and Bunny Lee ("Ease Up"), with new albums following, but he again drifted out of the limelight, with his health declining, and is best remembered for his earlier work.

Wilson is lionised by [[The Clash]] in their 1978 track [[punk rock]] [[garage band]] reggae fusion, "[[(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais]]" with the lines ''Delroy Wilson, you're a cool operator''. 

Delroy Wilson died at the age of 46 on 6 March 1995 at [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]]'s UWI hospital, of complications from [[cirrhosis]] of the [[liver]].<ref name="allmusic" />

In 2013 Wilson was posthumously awarded the [[Order of Distinction]] by the Jamaican Government.<ref>Campbell, Howard (2013) "[http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Honours-in-order_14835260 Honours in Order] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812051124/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Honours-in-order_14835260 |date=12 August 2013 }}", ''[[Jamaica Observer]]'', 7 August 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013</ref>

In 2015 Wilson's childhood friend Everard "Jah Ruby" Metcalf released the album ''The Delroy Wilson Story'', featuring 21 cover versions of Wilson's songs.<ref>Campbell, Howard (2015) "[http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/An-ode-to-Delroy-Wilson_18503939 An ode to Delroy Wilson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105202/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/An-ode-to-Delroy-Wilson_18503939 |date=4 March 2016 }}", ''[[Jamaica Observer]]'', 5 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015</ref>