Biography of The Slickers

The Slickers were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae group in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are best known for the song, "Johnny Too Bad", which featured on the film soundtrack of The Harder They Come, and which was sung with additional lyrics by John Martyn on his Grace and Danger album and was later covered by the British reggae group, UB40. The Slickers centred around Derrick Crooks, who had been one of the founding members of The Pioneers along with his brother Sydney. In the mid-1960s, The Slickers consisted of the Crooks brothers and Winston Bailey. Derrick was the only constant member, with Abraham Green joining the Crooks brothers at the time "Johnny Too Bad" was recorded. The Slickers have often been wrongly assumed to simply be an alias for The Pioneers due to their similar vocal stylings. The Slickers toured the United Kingdom and United States on the back of the success of "Johnny Too Bad", and continued until 1979, when they recorded the Breakthrough album, before splitting up.