Bruce Ruffin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bruce Ruffin, rocksteady and reggae artist, was born Bernardo Constantine Balderamus in February 1952 in St Catherine, Jamaica. Ruffin got his start singing with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires briefly before in 1967 joining the Techniques, one of the more successful rocksteady vocal groups of the late '60s. There he sang alongside Pat Kelly (see [1]), Winston Riley and Junior Menns. He was one of several talented singers to drift through the Techniques' ranks, but his stay with the group was highlighted by several rocksteady hits that he wrote, the most notable of which was Love Is Not a Gamble. Restless, Ruffin left the Techniques a year later, returning in 1969 as a solo artist with the upbeat reggae of Long About Now.
His greatest success came in the 1970s as a reggae-pop solo artist and writer. He continued to record with a number of producers (Leslie Kong, Herman Chin-Loy, Lloyd Charmers) and had some success with covers, including Paul Simon's Cecilia, but it was a José Feliciano tune, Rain, that would give his solo career momentum, recorded on Trojan Records, it was a UK number 19 hit in 1971 - the 'B' side of which was the karaoke favourite Geronimo. In 1972 he had a crossover hit with Mad About You, which featured odd background vocals and strings. It was released on the Rhino label(not to be confused with Rhino Records), and gave him his biggest selling hit, reaching number 9 in the UK - it ultimately set the direction for his career. For the rest of the decade, Ruffin continued to release polished reggae-pop that had a strong audience in the UK and Europe. By the 1980s, Ruffin was concentrating on writing and publishing. He eventually moved away from music to study law, becoming a legal consultant to other reggae artists. He is now a muslim convert, and is memorizing the holy Quran. Reference: Wade Kergan, All Music Guide
