Died On This Date (February 21, 2008) Joe Gibbs / Reggae Producer
themusicsover Joe Gibbs (Born Joel Gibson)
1943 – February 21, 2008
Joe Gibbs was a respected Jamaican reggae producer. He first began making records out of the back of his electronics repair shop during the late ’60s. One of his earliest collaborators was Lee Scratch Perry. In 1968, he formed his own record label, Amalgamated Records, home of one of rocksteady’s earliest hits, Roy Shirley’s “Hold Them.” In 1972, he and engineer, Errol Thompson put together a house band that included the great Earl “Chinna” Smith, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and together they generated hundreds of records, with over 100 becoming #1 singles in Jamaica. In 1977, Gibbs produced Culture’s Two Sevens Clash, considered to be one of the most influential albums on the growing punk scene. He continued to produce some of reggae’s most successful records well into the later years of his life. Joe Gibbs was 65 when he suffered a fatal heart attack on February 21, 2008.
Dale Hawkins was a singer, songwriter and guitarist who launched his career in Louisiana during the mid ’50s. He was one of the earliest to take the rock and rockabilly of 
King Tubby’s path to music success was a bit unconventional in that he was not originally a musician, singer, songwriter, or producer, but a skilled Jamaican radio repairman. As sound systems and recording equipment began to grow in popularity throughout Jamaica during the ’50s, and ’60s, so did the demand for Tubby’s skill to fix equipment was continually exposed to bad elements of the island. He soon opened his own repair shop where he put together some of the island’s best sound systems. He soon became skilled at creating sound effects like reverb and echo and was eventually working at the island’s top studios working on some of ska and reggae’s earliest records as a mixer or engineer. It was in this capacity that Tubby began experimenting in what would later be called “remixes,” a practice that he has been credited for inventing. By the ’70s, Tubby was arguably the most popular mixers in Jamaica. Though not a musician in the traditional sense, Tubby was able to manipulate the knobs and dials of a mixing board in a way that made him just as vital to the final product as any of the guitarists or drummers. By removing vocals and certain instruments from the mixes, he created a new form of music called “dub.” Over the course of his career, he mixed or remixed albums by the greatest producers in Jamaica. Tragedy struck on February 6, 1989 when King Tubby, who had just turned 48, was shot and killed in what was believed to be a random robbery. His murder was never solved.
Hugo Montenegro was a popular film score composer and orchestra leader whose most popular work came out during the ’60s and ’70s. His use of synthesizers became a major influence upon contemporary electronic musicians. He was also embraced by fans of space pop and lounge music during the ’90s. Montenegro had several hits with his interpretations of film scores of the time. His cover of the theme song of Clint Eastwood’s The Good The Bad and The Ugly made it to #2 on the Billboard pop chart. Montenegro also created the theme songs for I Dream Of Jeannie and Here Come the Brides for television. He died of emphysema on February 6, 1981.