Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam is certified gold in the United Kingdom

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Eighteen years after it was released digitally and 44 years after it was initially released on vinyl 45 rpm, Bam Bam by Sister Nancy has been certified gold in the United Kingdom,

The song reached a new milestone on Friday May 8, when the British Phonographic Industry issued a certification commemorating sales and streaming figures exceeding 400,000 units.

In a previous interview with the Observer Online, Sister Nancy who resides in the United States, said she is grateful and appreciative of the song’s success.

“Well, I’m grateful and appreciative and say congratulations Bam Bam. Keep climbing to new heights,” said Sister Nancy.

Bam Bam was a last-minute addition to Sister Nancy’s 1982 album One, Two which was recorded at the famed Channel One studio in Kingston. It was produced by Winston Riley and released via his Techniques label.

Sister Nancy recalled the recording session.

“I recorded all the tracks from the One, Two album at Channel One. The vibes were real, you know, in those days the musicians from the band were all there playing. So, the vibes were solid,” she shared.

Errol ‘Flabba’ Holt, Robbie Shakespeare, Carlton ‘Santa’ Davis, Sly Dunbar, Lincoln ‘Style’ Scott, Ansel Collins, Wycliffe ‘Steelie’ Johnson, Winston Wright, Marvin Brooks, Christopher ‘Sky Juice’ Blake, Dean Fraser and Ronald ‘Namboo’ Robinson are among the musicians who worked on the One, Two album.

Bam Bam, which is heard in the opening scenes of Hype Williams’s 1998 street-tough opus Belly, has been sampled several times.

Nine years ago, American rapper Jay-Z sampled the song in his recording Bam, which was included on his 2017 album 4:44.  The song charted at number 93 in the United Kingdom, numbers 47 and 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts respectively.

Sister Nancy said she had no idea that Bam Bam would have become a hit.

“No, I did not know, but it did and I’m thankful,” she said.

Asked what was it about Bam Bam that made it connect with music lovers, she said “I think it’s the voice and the riddim pitch.”

Sister Nancy whose real name is Ophlin Russell, grew up in St Andrew before migrating to the United States in the mid-1990s.  She worked as an accountant at a band in New Jersey before making a full time return to music more than a decade ago.

Among her other hits are Transport Connection and One, Two.

In 2016, Billboard magazine called the song “a strong contender for the title of most sampled reggae song of all time.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Bam Bam” at number 454 on its 2021 edition of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

A reconstructed afrobeats/house/techno version of Bam Bam, titled Jamaican (Bam Bam) credited to producers HUGEL and SOLTO, was released last November.

This version of Bam Bam peaked at #50 in the United Kingdom a few weeks ago, #2 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart and is currently charting on multiple charts in Central and Latin America as well as in parts of Europe.