SISTER NANCY - BAM BAM

Ophlin Russell, better known as Sister Nancy, is a Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer best known for her 1982 reggae anthem Bam Bam. As the younger sister of DJ and singer Brigadier Jerry (Robert Russell), Sister Nancy was drawn into the music business as a teenager. The young singer was the first female dancehall DJ to be considered a major act, and she paved the way for a generation of female Jamaican DJ's and singers. In 1982, the 20 year old singer was one of many Jamaican artists that copied the 1966 Toots And The Maytals song Bam Bam. The first of these  "dancehall style" versions of Bam Bam was recorded by Yellowman and Fathead a few weeks before Sister Nancy recorded her notorious version. Rather then using the Taxi riddim, as Yellowman did, Sister Nancy recorded her version of Bam Bam over the Stalag riddim - an instrumental track introduced in the 1973 song Stalag 17. In 1982, there were numerous other singers that recorded their own versions of Bam Bam, all inspired by Toots Hibbert's catchy novel phrase and song. Although Toots held the copyright to Bam Bam, he was never compensated for the slew of Bam Bam records he inspired, or the later songs that sampled Bam Bam. In fact, it wasn't until sometime after 2014 that Sister Nancy herself received any credit or royalties for her own hit song - which has been one of the most sampled reggae songs ever. After recording Bam Bam for her One, Two album, Sister Nancy was unaware of the immense popularity her song had outside of Jamaica - where it wasn't so heavily played. In 1998, the popular song was featured prominently in the film Belly. In 2014, after her daughter reported seeing Bam Bam used in a Reebok commercial on TV, Sister Nancy suddenly realized the album's elusive producer had been cashing in on her recording for 32 years. With guidance and representation she was soon able to obtain 50% of the songs rights and royalties, as well as retroactive compensation for the last 10 of 32 unpaid years from the song.