The band received another major boost when they were selected by Seaga, then the island's head of Social Welfare and Economic Development, in 1964 to travel to the New York World's Fair and perform as a backing band for a showcase of Jamaican talent, including Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, and Millie Small. The trip was not a great success, with the Dragonaires' "uptown" musicians not fitting in with the other "downtown" artists. Realising that their appeal to ska crowds was diminishing, Lee took the band in a new direction, incorporating calypso and touring Trinidad and Tobago in 1963 and 1964. Also the band contributed the instrumental part of Mighty Sparrow's recording of "Only A Fool" in 1966. Lee's relationship with Atlantic Records (he acted as head of distribution for the US company in Jamaica) led to the label releasing Dragonaires records in the US, including two albums timed to capitalise on interest generated from the World's Fair performances, "Jump Up" and "Jamaican Ska" (on which the Dragonaires backed the likes of The Blues Busters, The Charmers, The Maytals, Stranger Cole, Ken Boothe, and Patsy Todd). The band also targeted the international rocksteady market with albums of mainly cover versions such as "Rock Steady Beat" and "Rock Steady '67". Further, Atlantic Records tried to push the album "Jamaican Ska" by using house producer and sound engineer Tom Dowd, who produced all of Aretha Franklin's greatest singles, to produce the album. In addition, the Dragonaires were renamed as "The Ska Kings" on the album. Unfortunately, despite Atlantic's best efforts, "Jamaican Ska" failed to take off in the United States, although the record "Jamaica Ska" became a Top 30 single in Canada.