While studying at Kingston Technical High School, Scotty and fellow students Valman Smykle and A. J. Franklin (born Franklin Spence) formed a reggae
trio called The Federals. They began performing paid concerts in 1967, and shortly thereafter they attracted the attention of reggae producer and
music promoter Derrick Harriott while performing at a Kingston venue called the Sombrero Club. Harriott added them to a tour of reggae artists, ''Derrick Harriott's Musical Chariot'', and helped them
record a series of
singles. Their first single, "Penny For Your Song", was a local
hit, but subsequent singles failed to
chart, and in 1969 Smykle quit the group and moved to New York City. Their popularity increased in 1970 after they provided
back-up vocals for
Hopeton Lewis's single "Boom Shacka Lacka", and later that year they scored a Jamaican No. 1 hit of their own with "Psychedelic Train". He continued working with Harriott until 1972, after which he spent a couple of years working with other producers such as
Harry J,
Lloyd Charmers, and
Sonia Pottinger. Scotty moved to the United States in 1974, settling in Florida. He established a recording studio and a record label, but these both failed, and he returned to Jamaica. He resumed recording, now in a
ragga style, and was working on a new album when he died, aged 51, of
prostate cancer in 2003. ==Albums==