Winston Jarrett was born in 1944 in Lime Tree Gardens in the parish of Saint 
Ann and moved at age five to the notorious Jonestown section of Kingston’s 
notorious western slum, Trenchtown. In 1965, Alton Ellis recruited Winston 
Jarrett and Eggar Gordon (Baby Gee) to form a new harmony group, Alton & The 
Flames. After several months of intense practice, they auditioned at Duke 
Reid’s studio and won the enthusiastic endorsement of Leroy ‘Cuttings’ Cole, 
Reid’s number one selector. They were soon recording a series of classic rock 
steady anthems, and went on to score an extraordinary number of chart hits. 
After recording many tunes for Duke Reid, the group was lured away by Sir 
Coxsone who produced more hits. In 1969, Alton moved to England and Winston 
reformed the group as The Righteous Flames with harmony from Baby Gee.

Since then, Winston has recorded hundreds of titles under his own name, as well 
as a number of pseudonyms. In addition, he has backed up vocalists like Ken 
Boothe, Marcia Griffiths and Winston Francis. He also worked with Enid 
Cumberland and Larry Marshall as the Freedom Singers. Young Tree Records is 
proud to present Survival is the Game the first ever gathering of Winston 
Jarrett’s music. This two-disk collection spans his entire career and 
beautifully illustrates the progression of reggae music. Winston Jarrett’s 
music is still just as vital today and he remains one of reggae’s true 
pioneers.