Alvin Ranglin

Alvin 'GG' Ranglin (born 1942, Eden, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.

Ranglin started to sing in public in his teens with an Adventist Church background. As a radio and television technician involved in the jukebox industry, he soon acquired his own sound system he named "GG". By the mid 1960s, he opened his own TV repair shop in May Pen and started to produce records with artists such as Trevor Brown; and as a singer with Emmanuel Folwers under the name of "Flowers & Alvin". He soon developed his business by buying jukeboxes and opening his first record shop. His first major production was with The Maytones in 1968. He worked with the vocal duo until they split in 1980 and enjoyed different hits mainly with love songs in the early 1970s.

His first international success was "Man from Carolina" by his studio band named GG Allstars. Among all the artists he worked with are Eric Donaldson in 1970 ("Lonely Night"...), Max Romeo, Billy Dyce, The Ethiopians in 1972, U-Roy in 1973, Prince Mohammed with the hit "Hallelujah I Love Her So", Cynthia Richards, Gregory Isaacs from 1974 to 1977, The Starlites featuring Stanley Beckford ("Soldering" in 1975), Jah Thomas in the mid 1970s ("Midnight Rock"), Dennis Brown in 1975, I-Roy in 1977, Dennis Alcapone, Mike Brooks in 1977 ("Guiding Star" launched his career), between 1977 and 1978 Jah Stone & Freddie McKay ("The Right Time"), in 1979 Lone Ranger ("Barnabas Collins" became a #1 in the UK reggae chart in 1980) plus Barrington Levy in 1983.

During his long career, Ranglin set up different record labels (such as GG's, Hit, Typhoon, etc.) and record stores in places such as Kingston, Half Way Tree, Old Harbour, Brooklyn and London.

He currently lives in Kingston and owns GG Records, a recording studio and a pressing plant.

Partial discography

The GG All Stars

• Man From Carolina - 1970 - Trojan
• The Three Dreads From Zion - 1978 - GG's

Compilations

• Various Artists - Reggae Flight 404 - 1970 - Trojan
• Various Artists - Atlantic 1 - 1975 - Horse/Trojan
• Various Artists - Street Corner Ital Food - 1979 - GG's
• Various Artists - From Chapter To Version - 1970-1974 - 1998 - Jamaican Gold
• Various Artists - From GG's Reggae Hit Stable Vol 01 - 1968-1973 - Jamaican Gold (1998)
• Various Artists - From GG's Reggae Hit Stable Vol 02 - 1969-1973 - Jamaican Gold (1998)
• Various Artists - Holy Ground - Heartbeat Records (1990)