Count Ossie

Count Ossie, born Oswald Williams, (1926, St. Thomas, Jamaica-18 October 1976) was a Jamaican Rastafari movement drummer and band leader. As a young boy he grew in a rasta community were he learned techniques of vocal chanting and hand drumming. In the late 1950s, he (with other percussionists) formed the Count Ossie Group. His first sound recordings were made after meeting Prince Buster. One of those was a song "Oh Carolina," is regarded by some music historians as the first-ever ska record.