Johnny Osbourne is one of the most popular Jamaican reggae and dancehall singers of all time, who rose to success in the late 1970s and mid-1980s. His album Truths and Rights was a roots reggae success, and featured "Jah Promise" and the album's title track, "Truths and Rights".
He also enjoyed big hits with covers of U.S. soul tunes such as "Ready Or Not" and Earth, Wind and Fire's "Reasons". In addition, he has had many songs with the phrase 'Rub A Dub' in the title, the most acclaimed of these is to the "Rub A Dub Session". Osbourne is also the most in-demand vocalist for dubplates due to the amount of dancehall classics he has had. This has resulted in the nickname Dancehall Godfather.
He is probably best known for his mid-1980s dancehall reggae hits "Buddy Bye", "Ice Cream Love" and "Water Pumping".