Dawn Chorus

DAWN Penn is a reggae legend. Her 1967 recording of the classic You Don’t Love Me (with its haunting refrain of ‘No, No, No’) was a massive hit and a formative moment in the genre’s evolution beyond the dancehalls of Jamaica.

Of course, we all know her for that very same song – but from more recent times.

Re-recorded in 1993, it became a UK smash a year later, reminding us of the vocal prowess of an artist who has come to be regarded as an elder stateswoman of reggae, or, more accurately, its mellower elder sibling ‘rocksteady’.

That song, originally recorded with Prince Buster, has been sampled and covered by everyone from Ghostface Killah and Kano to Rihanna and Lily Allen.

But Dawn is about more than just that tune.

“That’s my signature song,” she says. “But I don’t want to be thought of as a one-hit wonder, just because not enough people known my music. After all, I’ve had five albums”

Indeed, her recordings of Why Did You Leave, laid down at Kingston’s legendary Studio One, I Let You Go Boy and Broke My Heart, also stand the test of time.

And, now, after a sporadic career, which has seen her drop in and out of the limelight, she is back with new songs and a tireless touring schedule. And there’s no let-up in the demand to hear her.

Her show at The Cellar in Oxford this Friday sold out so quickly, promoter Aidan Larkin (aka Count Skylarkin) had to persuade her to play another night. She agreed, and also plays the venue tomorrow – making her one of only a handful of artists to have played consecutive gigs in the city for years.

“It’s so cool people want to come,” she says. “It’s great there are so many die-hard fans of the music. They make you appreciate what you are doing.

“Playing two shows is unbelievable. It’s true that my music is not very popular in some parts of the world, and people still don’t really know who I am.

“Here, I suppose, people heard me singing You Don’t Love Me on Top of the Pops, and saw it getting to number three in the charts, but then didn’t hear anything from me. But things have been escalating.”

Born in pre-independence Kingston, Jamaica, in 1952, Dawn was the daughter of a ‘maroon’ (runaway slave) mother, while her father was a Quaker from the British Virgin Islands. She first performed at the Grace Missionary Church, in Kingston, aged 11.

“Growing up in Jamaica, music was everywhere,” she says. “There were no gunshots then and you could walk the streets. There was a very relaxed atmosphere.”

She is sad, however, about the crime that plagues her home island, which has acquired one of the highest murder rates in the world.

“There’s a time for war and a time for peace, and now it’s back to peace again,” she says. “Jamaica has produced some amazing talent – with musicians, runners and models to be proud of.”

Deeply spiritual, she is a devout Christian who takes pride in prayer and fasting, and peppers her talk with references to her faith.

After living for almost 20 years in the British Virgin islands, where she moved to raise her children, she now lives in the UK, but keeps her home a guarded secret.

I ask her for the secret of her enduring music, which now encompasses R&B, pop, and even drum and bass. “To me music is all about promoting God your maker, and not a business,” she says.

All the same, there is money to be made – though she admits to having missed out on much of it. “I haven’t seen many of the royalties,” she says. “Though some of my records do sell for a lot of money. My recording of When Am I Going to Be Free went for £1,760 at auction, it was so rare. I don’t even have a copy of it; I never did have .”

Yet she is happy. “I’m proud of the fact I’m still out there and enjoying good times, but I am taking it slowly – one step at a time.”

* Dawn Penn plays The Cellar, Frewin Court, Oxford, tomorrow and Friday. Tickets are still available for tomorrow, at £12 in advance from wegottickets.com Doors open at 8pm. Support tomorrow comes from East Oxford roots and dancehall seven-piece Jamatone and MC Dr Syntax, with Zion and The White Boys, and DJ Wrongtom on Friday. Count Skylarkin DJs on both nights.