About three months ago, I had an idea for my next Unsung Heroes subject, Leo Graham.  He was the lead vocalist in groups called The Overtakers and The Bleechers and also had hits as a solo artist. Though I didn’t know much about him, I figured it wouldn’t be too much trouble to craft a complete profile on him and highlight yet another “unsung hero.”  Little did I know that the research would take me on a long journey to answer questions and solve mysteries that surrounded his early life. Along the way, I forged new relationships with writers, researchers and musicians that I may never have thought to seek had it not been for this series.  While my focus began on Leo himself, I realized that there was much more to this story and it deserved to be told in full, so the project ultimately morphed into much more. This article will be in four parts, so please follow us as we dive into the history of The Overtakers, The Mellotones and members Leo Graham, Wesley Nelson, Rita Nelson, Samuel “Sammy” Lowe and Winston “Thinka” Francis, although it should be noted this was not the Winston Francis who performed “Mr. Fix It,” (a common misconception.) 

Our story begins in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966 when five young singers moved to the city to look for better opportunities. Leo Graham came from Trelawney to learn a trade skill in auto painting. While living with his aunt in Denham Town, he met a man named Wesley Nelson, who was also interested in the auto paint trade. Together, they worked at John Crooke Ltd, a well known auto parts sales business in Jamaica. They shared a love for American country and soul music and would soon meet two other tradesmen who shared the same passion, welder Winston Francis and cabinet maker Sammy Lowe. Not long after, Wesley’s sister would also join them.  

Leo Graham had the idea of putting together a singing group. He asked Wesley Nelson and his sister Rita to join. Calling themselves The Overtakers, they would put songs together and sing live at any club they could get into.  At one club in particular, the Sombrero Club, they became regulars. Eventually, they decided to try their luck in recording, but they didn’t think the more successful producers such as Coxsone Dodd or Duke Reid would take them seriously, so they went to Lloyd “The Matador” Daly who was known to spend more time developing new artists.  Lloyd  thought they had something special and recorded a lot of songs with them.  However, only four songs were ever released, including “Beware,” “Risk You A Run,” “Right Now” and “Unresistable You.”  It’s worth mentioning that these tracks were recorded at Studio One.  

Not long after these recording sessions, tragedy struck the group. In September, 1967, Rita Nelson was rushed to Kingston Hospital where she would pass away at the age of only 19. The cause was peritonitis, stemming from a ruptured ovarian cyst. It’s said that during this time period the hospital may not have had access to treatment. Nowadays, while this can still be fatal, treatments are widely available.  

It should also be noted that the song “Beware” has only the voices of Leo and Wesley present.  It is unknown if this was an artistic choice or because Rita wasn’t available at the time. It’s also possible this was recorded after Rita had passed. We may never know the answer. 

After Rita had passed, Leo and Wesley wanted to continue singing and this is when they asked their friends Winston and Sammy to join them.

Winston told me that they had always sung together and that he had the idea to put a group together around the same time as Leo had the idea for The Overtakers. Regardless of this, they finally came together and became The Mellotones. It’s said Sammy had the idea for the name.  According to Wesley, Sammy chose the name “Because together, we sounded mellow.” The group was now Leo, Wesley, Winston and Sammy, with Sammy taking most of the leads on songs.  

Eventually, Lee Perry, who at that point had been working with Joe Gibbs, brought them in and recorded “That’s The Way You Like It.” They used The Overtakers name for the next set of recordings instead of The Mellotones name because, according to both Winston and Wesley, the reason was because producers didn’t want to use the same group names. Other songs produced by Lee Perry but released on Gibb’s Amalgamated Records were “Girl You Ruff” and “The Big Takeover.” All three of these recordings used Lynn Taitt & The Jets as their backing band. “Girl You Ruff” only features the voices of Leo, Wesley and Sammy. Winston told me, “Leo called me and told me about the session, but I had something to do that day, so they recorded it without me.”

The group would keep working with Lee Perry through the end of the 60s. Using The Mellotones name exclusively, the first of the songs they recorded with Scratch was “Fat Girl In Red,” recorded in one of the previous Overtakers sessions also using Lynn Taitt. When Lee Perry left Joe Gibbs and started working with Clancy Eccles, he brought his discovery with him, and they started recording a new sound and beat which at the time had no name, but would eventually come to be known as reggae. The first of these songs were “None Such,” a song about a racehorse, “Uncle Charley,” “Uncle Desmond” and “What A Botheration.” 

They also recorded for other producers at the time such as Sonia Pottinger, who produced “Feel Good,” which again used Lynn Taitt and The Jets and featured the wails of Leo Graham on lead. They went with Leslie Kong for “Gimme Gimme Gal” aka “Banana Water,” “Let’s Join Together,” and “Work It,” as well as Prince Buster, where they recorded two Cornel Campbell penned songs, “Fly Away” aka “I’ll Be Around” and “No Good Girl,” which was erroneously credited to The Beltones.

Around this time, Leo started to clash with other members of the group. He wanted to sing more leads like he did early on in The Overtakers.  After a confrontation with his long time friend Wesley, he left the group. The Mellotones continued on without him. His story will continue in another part of this series, so please stay tuned.  

For a time, Wesley’s cousin joined them on some songs. He went by the name Mello. Winston said, “We were training him and provided harmonies for his recordings.” He sang on the Prince Buster recordings, “No Good Girl” and “Fly Away,” as well as three songs for Clancy Eccles titled “Haile Salessi I,” “Build My World Around You,” and “Old Man River.” For these songs, Mello received top billing as “Mello & The Mellotones.”  

The Mellotones also would provide harmony for solo singers’ records. Winston told me, “Any song that Lee put out, that Clancy Eccles put out in the late 60s, The Mellotones were the harmony.”  Learning this information, of course I had to go and listen to every recording! Lee Perry’s infamous “People Funny Boy”  has a harmony part provided by the group that goes “Walla, walla, walla” and Clancy Eccles’ big hit, “Festival 68,” was another song of note for them.  Winston told me, “We toured that song for months around Jamaica.” They also recorded a few more songs with Lee that became favorites among fans. These included “Dry Up Your Tears,” which was released on The Upsetter label as the B side to “Come Into My Parlour,” one of the first recordings with Leo Graham’s new group, The Bleechers, as well as “Facts of Life.”

It should be noted that the songs “Go On” and “Tug O War,” which are attributed to The Mellotones, may not actually be them.  While working on their discography with Winston, I played these two songs for him and he said he never heard them before. 

At the end of 1969, the group decided to split up. Winston moved to Canada, while Wesley moved back up to his hometown for a period and Sammy stayed in Kingston. They never met up with Sammy again.  

As far as my research led me, Sammy did a few songs with Lloyd Deslandes under the name “Sammy L” for Cancer King records in the 70s. Winston, Wesley and myself tried to look for him but we all came up with nothing. There were rumours that he may have moved to Florida or possibly stuck around Kingston. Maybe someone out there might point us in the right direction one day. 

Please follow us for more Unsung Heroes. In the next three parts, we pick back up with each member of the group and learn about their careers after The Mellotones.  

Also, if you are interested to learn more about the recordings and their complete discography, check out my personal blog More Unsung Heroes where I provide research notes on each article.  

I would like to thank Carl Finlay, Kenneth Bilby and Winston “Thinka” Francis for providing me with the resources and encouragement to write this wonderful story.