40 years of hard work: Fab 5 talk about what it took to get where they are

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

"When we started 40 years ago, we started to get girls and popularity. We never thought that we would be around for 40 years," said Frankie Campbell, one of the founding members of Jamaica's second oldest musical band.

Fab 5 is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year and The Gleaner caught up with four of the members: Sydney Thorpe, Donovan Palmer, Grub Cooper and Frankie Campbell, last Sunday after they gave a sterling performance at the Keith Lyn and Friends concert held at the Stella Maris Church Hall. The four men spoke candidly of the group's highs and lows, the origin as well as the future plans for the band.

"As young people, we loved music, but in the early days we played it for the fun of it, never from a business side. We learned after a while that it is a business and we have to live off it," continued the band's manager and bass guitarist, Campbell.

The name Fab 5 came about by accident. The group Peter Scarlet (now deceased) Stevie Golding, Grub and Conroy Cooper and Frankie Campbell were the members of a resident band at a club in a hotel and were then called by the name of the club. So when invited to perform at a new venue they could not use the name of the club and the gentleman who had invited them to perform at the new venue gave them the name Fabulous 5, ultimately it was shortened to Fab 5.

Over the years, many things have changed but the band has maintained a level of consistency that is admirable. One of the reasons for that may lie in the fact, that despite changing members over the years, most have been with the group for at least 16 years.

Andre Palmer, who has been with the group for four years is the exception.

Throughout their 40 years the Fabulous 5 Band has toured over 30 countries; from as near as an hour's flight to Cuba, to as far as the 30-hour flight to Malaysia.

Most Memorable Experience

But for Thorpe, keyboardist, who has been legally blind from birth, his most memorable experience on tour was when the band performed for what seemed like one million people, at Central Park in the United States of America.

"It was a joy to hear so many people applauding," Thorpe said, in a voice fit for the radio.

Thorpe has been a member of the Fab 5 for 31 years, having joined, immediately after leaving school. "I started from cold to hot," he injected with laughter.

On the other hand Grub Cooper, the band's songwriter and drummer, explained that for him, one of the most memorable moments, came when their song Come Back and Stay rose to become the number one record in Jamaica. Cooper also showed a preference toward the group's first year when it was nominated as band of the year. However there were low times too, he described one:

"That would have to be in the mid-'70s when our kind of music was not necessarily in vogue, everything was all Rasta, dreadlocks, etcetera and we wondered if we should have continued."

Jamaica and the world are the better for the group's decision not to have thrown in the towel then. But what do they credit their success to?

"Hard Work," was Grub Cooper's immediate response.

"Talent is a part of it, but the band's true success is based on hard work."

Campbell on the other hand believed that their success is due in part to the band members' professional approach: "always on time, never late and are well dressed and each member of the band has the opportunity to make an input in decisions. It is a team effort."

"It is also a blessing doing something that you enjoy," Campbell contends.

But what are some of the plans for Fab 5 band?

"There are no limits to what you can do in music. Plans wise we will continue to make some more albums, to go on tours and to work in music whether film recording, etcetera There's gonna be more work," was Grub Coopers response.