Joy Mack
Birth date
1949
Death date
2019
Biography
Joy Mack was born in Jamaica and moved to Tottenham in 1962, at the age of 13, following her parents who had moved several years earlier. As a teenager she enjoyed singing in a church choir and in her early twenties began singing in nightclubs alongside bands, particularly in London's West End as well as other venues in the UK. Mack performed music across multiple genres including jazz, blues, soul and reggae.
Joy Mack's first performance was at the Four Aces club on Dalston Lane, a live music hotspot in 1960s and 70s Hackney known for its pioneering of genres such as reggae, ska, dancehall and lovers' rock. In 1978, Mack released 'You Had Your Chance' her most successful single - it charted at the top spot on the UK Reggae charts and remained there for eight weeks. Throughout her career she worked with and performed alongside a variety of reggae and lovers' rock artists and recorded music in Hackney. Mack described herself as 'a classical reggae singer' who 'brought the jazz and the soul into the reggae'.
Joy Mack also performed in the 2006 stage production of 'The Harder They Come', a story about Ivanhoe Martin, an infamous criminal in 1940s. Mack auditioned for the role of Martin's mother after a friend saw that the production was searching for a performer who could speak Jamaican patois.
Alongside her music career, Mack spent many years within education working as a cultural educator and nursery teacher. In 2018 she travelled to Ethiopia to participate in community work with local women and school children.
Joy Mack passed away in 2019 and is remembered as being a key figure in British reggae and lovers' rock genres in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Joy Mack's first performance was at the Four Aces club on Dalston Lane, a live music hotspot in 1960s and 70s Hackney known for its pioneering of genres such as reggae, ska, dancehall and lovers' rock. In 1978, Mack released 'You Had Your Chance' her most successful single - it charted at the top spot on the UK Reggae charts and remained there for eight weeks. Throughout her career she worked with and performed alongside a variety of reggae and lovers' rock artists and recorded music in Hackney. Mack described herself as 'a classical reggae singer' who 'brought the jazz and the soul into the reggae'.
Joy Mack also performed in the 2006 stage production of 'The Harder They Come', a story about Ivanhoe Martin, an infamous criminal in 1940s. Mack auditioned for the role of Martin's mother after a friend saw that the production was searching for a performer who could speak Jamaican patois.
Alongside her music career, Mack spent many years within education working as a cultural educator and nursery teacher. In 2018 she travelled to Ethiopia to participate in community work with local women and school children.
Joy Mack passed away in 2019 and is remembered as being a key figure in British reggae and lovers' rock genres in the late 1970s and 1980s.