Just Having Fun

Carl Harvey is a Jamaican-born Canadian guitarist, producer, songwriter, and instrument designer whose career connects Toronto’s Black music community, Canadian funk and soul, Jamaican reggae, and international roots music. Best known for his long association with Toots and the Maytals, Harvey first emerged through Toronto’s R&B and funk scene as a member of Crack of Dawn, later built an extensive production career, released solo recordings under his own name, and developed his own line of custom guitars.

Harvey was born in Jamaica and did not initially imagine music as a career. As a child, he spent time at Munro College, a strict military-style boarding school, where he first encountered the guitar after another student taught him to play “Little Honda.” After his family immigrated to Canada, Harvey and his younger brother Rupert Harvey began taking music lessons. Carl initially chose drums while Rupert chose guitar, but he soon found himself picking up his brother’s instrument and learning parts by ear. He bought his first guitar with money earned from a paper route and began absorbing blues, rock, and R&B influences.

His early listening ranged from traditional blues to British and American rock guitarists, but hearing Jimi Hendrix in high school became a turning point. Hendrix’s sound opened up a new sense of what the guitar could do, both musically and physically, and Harvey carried that energy into his own playing. He also drew important lessons from Toronto guitarist Dominic Troiano, who encouraged him to think beyond guitar vocabulary and listen to horn players, singers, and pianists for phrasing and melodic ideas.

Harvey’s move toward reggae was shaped by Jackie Mittoo, the legendary Jamaican keyboardist, composer, and former Studio One musician who became a major figure in Toronto’s reggae community. Harvey played with Mittoo in the group Sledge and was also influenced by bassist Franklin Harrison, whose knowledge of music theory helped broaden his understanding. Prior to Crack of Dawn, Harvey also played with Tobi Lark and held a residency at the Speak Easy, upstairs from what is now Lee’s Palace, in the former Blue Orchid burlesque space. In the fall of 1977 and into the winter of 1978, after Crack of Dawn, Harvey and Mittoo spent time in Jamaica, where Harvey worked in studios alongside major reggae musicians including Sly and Robbie and The Aggrovators.

In Toronto, Harvey became part of Crack of Dawn, one of the most important Black Canadian bands of the 1970s. The group played R&B, funk, and soul, and became known as the first Black Canadian band to sign with a major record label when they joined Columbia Records in 1975. Harvey entered the band during its key early period, alongside musicians connected to Toronto’s Caribbean and Black music scenes. Crack of Dawn released their self-titled debut album in 1976 and became a landmark group in Canadian music history, combining strong live musicianship with a sound rooted in funk, soul, and R&B.

Harvey’s connection to Toots and the Maytals began through drummer Paul Douglas, whom he had met through Crack of Dawn. Douglas asked him to substitute for the band’s guitarist on a Canadian date, and Harvey’s first show with the group took place at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Rather than playing a strictly traditional reggae role, he brought his rock and Hendrix-influenced stage presence into the performance, including playing with his teeth and behind his back. The performance drew attention, and what began as a temporary substitution became a decades-long association.

With Toots and the Maytals, Harvey performed internationally and became part of one of reggae’s most enduring live acts. The band opened for the Rolling Stones nine times, and Harvey later recalled the intensity of stepping onstage before an audience waiting for one of the biggest rock bands in the world. His work with Toots also placed him on True Love, the 2004 album that won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2005. The album brought together reggae with a wide range of guest artists, including Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, one of Harvey’s own guitar heroes.

Alongside his work as a guitarist, Harvey began producing in 1977. His production credits include work with Messenjah, the influential Canadian reggae band co-founded by his brother Rupert Harvey, and Sway, whose hit single “Hands Up” earned a Canadian gold record and a Juno Award nomination. Harvey played keyboards and guitar on the track as well. He also contributed to Sweet Ecstasy, the Toronto-area family group originally from Trinidad whose “Pull Our Love Together” became a Canadian Black Music Awards winner for Best Funk Single in 1983. The song was co-written by Angelo Petraglia, Carl Otway, and Carl Harvey.

Harvey’s own solo recordings reveal another side of his career. In 1979, he released the 12-inch single “Ebony Lady” on A&M Records of Canada, followed by the independent 12-inch “Just Having Fun” on Borrice Production Inc. His album Ecstasy of Mankind featured an exceptional Jamaican studio cast, including Jackie Mittoo, Ranchie McLean, Earl “Chinna” Smith, Rad Bryan, Lloyd Parks, Robbie Shakespeare, Carlton “Santa” Davis, and Sly Dunbar. Recorded at Dynamic Sounds Studios and Joe Gibbs Studio, remixed at King Tubby’s Studio, and produced by Bunny Lee, the album connected Harvey’s Canadian career directly to the Jamaican studio tradition. He later recorded The Times, a solo project he has identified as one of the works closest to him personally.

In 2017, Harvey returned to Crack of Dawn for the reunion album Spotlight, helping bring the group’s pioneering legacy into a new era. Following the death of Toots Hibbert in 2020, he continued working with former members of the Maytals through oBessa, co-producing and performing on the album Solid, mixing several tracks, and singing lead on “Blue For You.”

Harvey has also extended his musical life into instrument design. Drawing on decades as a touring guitarist, he developed his own guitar models, including the Rastacasta and Safar-i. The designs grew out of his affection for Stratocaster-style instruments, but also from his desire to solve problems he had experienced as a player, including hum, tuning instability, and limited tonal range. The Rastacasta was shaped for players who wanted the familiar feel of a Strat-style guitar with greater versatility, while the Safar-i added heavier rock-oriented tones to his design approach.

-Robert Williston