Webber Sisters (Merlene and Cynthia)

Websites:  No
Origin: Kingston, Jamaica → Toronto, Ontario, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Sisters Cynthia (“Joyce”) Webber and Merlene Webber were born into a musical family in Kingston, Jamaica, their brother David Webber being an early member of the Gladiators. Both began recording—sometimes separately, sometimes together—during reggae’s “golden age” in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and between them they have charted releases in every decade since.

Merlene (whose name appears variously as Merline, Merlyn, and Merlin on different records) made her first impact with the heartfelt “Hard Life” on Smash, followed by “Dream Dream,” produced by Sid Bucknor for the UK’s Third World label, with the protest song “In Our Time” on the flip. In 1971, she cut the unusual “Natengula” for UK release on Ackee. Introduced to producer Lloyd Campbell by singer Keith Poppin, she recorded a string of singles for Campbell’s Spider Man, Joe Fraser, and Jama labels, including “Letter to Mommy and Daddy,” “He Will Have to Stay,” “First Cut Is the Deepest,” “As Long As You Love Me,” “Cheating Is,” “One Life to Live” (backed by The Revolutionaries), the self-penned “No More Running,” and “Once You Hit the Road.” The latter became the title track of her 1976 solo debut, credited as Merlyn Webber with Skin Flesh and Bones. She also took the lead on the first Webber Sisters LP, Right Track (1976), later reprised on her own 1978 album On the Right Track.

Cynthia Webber’s discography is smaller but equally distinctive. Her solo single “Do Jah Good,” issued in the US on Bull Sentra, became a collectors’ favorite, and she stepped out front on the 1980s LP Sweet Soul and Inspiration, produced by guitarist Ronnie “Bop” Williams, writing more than half the material. Merlene provided harmony vocals, and the sisters’ trademark blend is at the heart of the record.

As The Webber Sisters, their collaborative work includes the 1982 LP I & I Love You Honey on Canada’s Black Eagle/Micron Music Canada label, a set rooted in reggae but seasoned with soul and pop influences. They also participated in the Ethiopian Famine Relief project single Love Is the Message with the Courageous—a lineup that included Stranger Cole and Pluggy Satchmo—also issued on Black Eagle. In the 1990s, both Black Eagle in Canada and Scorcher Music in the US issued 12-inch releases by the duo.

On record, the Webber Sisters’ sound combines the innocence of early-1960s girl groups, the sweet soul of the mid-’60s, the joy of Jamaican rocksteady, and the maturity of classic pop harmonies—spiced with lovers rock, roots reggae, and even flashes of dancehall. Their career has taken them through some of Jamaica’s greatest studios—Studio One, Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark, King Tubby’s, Channel One, and GG’s—working with many of the island’s finest musicians.

Now based in Toronto, Ontario, the Webber Sisters’ legacy bridges two musical worlds: the roots and soul of their Kingston origins, and the Caribbean-Canadian scene they helped shape over decades. In June 2025, Cynthia “Joyce” Webber passed away in Toronto, marking the end of the sisters’ long-performing partnership but leaving behind a catalogue of harmonies and songs that remain as warm and natural today as in the era their music evokes—proof that family voices, and great songs, never go out of style.
-Robert Williston