Sister Nancy is celebrating after her 1982 hit single, “Bam Bam,” surged to the top of the Reggae iTunes chart after being featured in the new season of the Netflix series, “Ozark.”
*Spoiler alert*
“Bam Bam,” towards the end of an episode titled “The Beginning of the End” — when Sheriff Nix pays a visit to Helen. However, new character, Javi, greets him at the door instead. The sheriff then inquires as to Helen’s whereabouts, and Javi goes to “turn the music down.” Nix enters the home, but Javi decides to blast the music to cover up the sounds of gunfire as he shoots the sheriff in the chest and head.
“Of course, I watched it. It’s not the first time [the song has been number one]. 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,” Sister Nancy told the Jamaica Observer.
The single was recorded and released more than 40 years ago.
“I went to the studio with Yellowman one day and he did a Bam Bam also. Then, in the same time, I wanted to complete the One-Two album. It (Bam Bam) ended up being the 10th song on the album. The next day, I went into the studio and freestyled [my version], got it on a tape, then went home and wrote the lyrics,” she said.
However, despite the track’s ongoing success, the veteran deejay did not receive a penny for the track for many years.
“I did copyright the album, but I think he went behind my back and took ‘Bam Bam,'” she told The Fader of song producer Winston 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.”
The deejay fought for the rights after the track was used in a 2014 Reebok commercial.
“His two sons, they are the ones, with Westbury Music,” she said. “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 10 years out of the 32, and gave me 50% 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.”
