Blue Riddim Band / Rougher All Stars

About Blue Riddim Band / Rougher All Stars

The Blue Riddim Band is a Kansas City, Missouri-based reggae band and the first US-based group to play at Jamaica’s Reggae Sunsplash festival, which they did in August 1982 and August 1983 (1), (6). The recording of the group’s 1982 Sunsplash performance was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1986. (2)
Bob Zohn died in Florida in 1987 at the age of 35.
Blue Riddim emerged from the group Rhythm Funkshun in Miami in the mid-70s under the direction of instrumentalist and composer Bob Zohn and drummer Steve "Duck" McLane. (3)
Zohn and McLane began regular trips to Jamaica in 1973. During an early trip to Kingston, they visited the Turntable Club and met members of the Soul Syndicate band, a highly sought studio ensemble. Drummer "Santa" Davis and bassist George "Fully" Fullwood befriended Zohn and McLane and exchanged musical information with them for years to come. These relationships were vital to Blue Riddim’s later success. (3)
Rhythm Funkshun added horn players Scott Korchak and Jack Blackett in 1977, and briefly used the name Pat’s Blue Riddim before settling on Blue Riddim Band. By the end of the 1970s the group was ba