The mighty King Hammond was a seriously overlooked late 60's / early 70's skinhead reggae artist who was always on the verge of chart greatness - his two Trojan backed singles were bumped from the UK charts by label mates The Upsetters `Return of Django' in 1969 and then two years later by Dave & Ansel Collins' 'Double Barrel'. Nevertheless, King Hammond was a perennial star on the Music Hall men's club circuit in Great Britian throughout the 1970s, his rubber banded facial hair made for fantastic gig posters that still fetch serious sums on second hand markets today. At this time, the King was also breaking out into film, his specialty being 'One Of The Gang' in heist flicks - most notably a car mechanic in The Italian Job (1969). But after years of trying to get out of recording contracts he signed the 1960s at Trojan Records, King Hammond disappeared into obscurity while his music sat shelved and unreleased until the late 80's - when it was obvious that the 2nd. wave of ska was firmly taking the world by storm....
