Born in Jamaica, Keith “Sugar” Simone rose to local prominence as a gospel singer and left for Britain in ‘61 to further his schooling. He became an engineer while singing on the side, juggling both worlds respectively until 1963 where he auditioned at Old Planetone Studios. There, he met Alan Crawford, a radio exec who signed Simone to Carnival Records. After cutting a half-dozen singles for Carnival, Simone signed to Island Records where he recorded some of his most well known works as Sugar Simone (he would also record under the name Tito Simon, but those fall under the boring category).
Simone was always more popular oversees than in the states, touring Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland until the ‘70s. As far as I know, he only cut one LP as Sugar Simone (Alive & Well, kinda lackluster, shown above), profited slightly off a handful of dope 45s, and later signed to Beacon Records where he made more singles and released a few LPs as Tito Simon. But his late ‘60s singles are the most sugary. Here they are.
His first and most famous single, “King Without A Throne”, for Island Records in 1967. Notice the jacked “Stand By Me” bassline.
“Take It Easy”, another nice late ‘60s cut, all rhythm and horns galore!
“I Want To Know”, the other really slick 45 he made for Trojan.
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