Jamaican vocal group, formed Kingston 1963 · Brent Dowe, Trevor McNaughton, Tony Brevett
The Melodians were formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston in 1963 by Tony Brevett, Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton, and became one of the great harmony groups of the rocksteady era. Their biggest record was made for producer Leslie Kong at Beverley’s, and “Rivers of Babylon” became an anthem of the Rastafari movement. Its inclusion on the soundtrack of The Harder They Come ↗ in 1972 turned a Jamaican hit into an international one. Kong died in 1971, and the group afterwards recorded for other producers including Lee Perry and Byron Lee’s Dynamic Studios.