Dancehall artist Sister Nancy, 60, has gained recognition for her 1982 hit “Bam Bam” after reaching No. 1 on iTunes Reggae Charts and the number two bestsellers list in Reggae on Amazon. The song is played at the end of season four’s premiered episode of Ozark on Netflix, Madame Noire reported.
“Of course, I watched it. It’s not the first time [the song has been number one], Sister Nancy told the Jamaica Observer. “You have to feel good when something like this happens. I remember recording like it was yesterday. Bam Bam is my life. Otherwise, from my daughter, it’s my whole life. It’s how I live. I have not forgotten anything.”
The classic reggae hit was featured on Nancy’s One, Two album, reaching certified silver in the United Kingdom in January with more than 200,000 streams on iTunes.
Nancy, born Ophlin Russell, did not learn of the song’s success until 15 years after its release.
“In those times, I never heard “Bam Bam” play one time in Jamaica. I only heard One Two and Transport Connection, them were the only tunes they used to play in Jamaica,” she told The Fader in 2017. “Those were the only two I heard while I was there. It was when I migrated [to the U.S.] in 1996 that I knew how big “Bam Bam” is. I didn’t know. I never had a clue because the producer never wanted me to know. He knew because he was traveling, and I was not.”
The Kingston, Jamaica native also revealed to the outlet that she was never compensated for “Bam Bam.” After the song gained recognition in the states, her producer, Winston Riley, never informed her because he knew she would want to be paid for her work. She said Riley ensured her that he would take full responsibility for the song’s success.
“I did copyright the album, but I think he went behind my back and took ‘Bam Bam,’” she said about Riley. “Of all the ten songs, I copyrighted all of them under my name, Sister Nancy, and my correct name too, which is Ophlin Russell, and then he took ‘Bam Bam’ from the album, the copyright, changed it totally, so I will get a little money for the rest of the nine songs, but I wouldn’t get anything for “Bam Bam.”
After the song was featured in a Reebok commercial in 2014, Nancy notified her lawyer and the company that owns “Bam Bam’ and the One, Two album, Westbury Music in England.
“His two sons, they are the ones with Westbury Music,” she said about Riley’s sons, who ultimately helped her. “What the lawyer did was to write them and deal with them. Because I haven’t received anything from the record for 32 years, they told me they couldn’t give me back 32 years, so they paid me ten years out of the 32 and gave me 50 percent rights of the whole album and publishing, everything. It’s a lot better because at least I get my fair share of royalties and fair share of everything.”
According to the Financial Times, “Bam Bam” is the most sampled reggae track of all time.
