Throwback 45s: The Rolets – Top Ranking Girls
The post Throwback 45s: The Rolets – Top Ranking Girls appeared first on Reggae Vibes.
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Throwback 45s: The Rolets – Top Ranking Girls
ARTIST: The Rolets
TITLE: Top Ranking Girls
LABEL: Top Ranking
YEAR: 1977
Top Ranking Girls
Back in 1977, the song came out as Top Ranking Girls by a trio called The Rolets. That group included Althea Forrest, Donna Reid, and Debra Keese aka Debbie Defire. And it was Debbie who helped write the track. Funny enough, the first idea wasn’t even called Top Ranking Girls but Cosmo Freak. The inspiration came from how people saw Debbie. She had that magazine look, like she just walked out of Cosmopolitan. Even Third World picked up on that.
The song then evolved into Top Ranking Girls. It was produced by Ty Hutchinson and released on the Top Ranking label. But the real turning point came later, when the Mighty Two, producer Joe Gibbs and engineer Errol Thompson, got involved. They were looking for a strong female response tune to Trinity’s hit Three Piece Suit. That’s when things lined up.
It was Jacob Miller, lead singer of Inner Circle, who brought Althea and Donna into Joe Gibbs’ studio in Kingston for an audition. And just like that, a new version of the song started to take shape.
Then came one of those moments you can’t plan. BBC DJ John Peel played the track by mistake. He meant to play the B-side, Calico Suit, instead. But that mistake changed everything. The song caught fire and quickly climbed all the way to the top of the UK charts.
After that, Althea & Donna released a few more songs, but lightning didn’t strike twice. Eventually, they moved to the US and stepped away from the spotlight. Still, that one record carries weight. It’s one of those moments in reggae history where everything just clicked—talent, timing, and a little bit of luck.
But there’s another thing worth pointing out. Debbie linked up with Lee “Scratch” Perry at Black Ark and cut a track called Sweat Suit, alongside an artist named Sonny. With The Upsetters laying down the riddim, the tune reworks her own Uptown Top Ranking lyrics. It came out in 1978 on the Upsetters label.
The post Throwback 45s: The Rolets – Top Ranking Girls appeared first on Reggae Vibes.
