Died On This Date (May 5, 2004) Coxsone Dodd / Legendary Reggae Producer
themusicsover Clement “Coxsone” Dodd
January 26, 1932 – May 5, 2004
Coxsone Dodd was the pioneering Jamaican DJ and producer that many credit for early development of reggae and ska. Dodd’s career in music began at an early age when he would spin records at this parents’ store. He grew that into a popular sound system business, employing the likes of Lee “Scratch” Perry an U-Roy to run the sound systems. Having spent some time in the United States, Dodd featured early American R&B records, first introducing many Jamaicans to the music. Realizing that he couldn’t keep up with the local demand for new music with imports from the States, Dodd decided to start his own record label and shortly thereafter, open his Studio One recording studio. Over the next two decades, Dodd would produce and release some of reggae’s greatest songs and albums from such artists as Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Sugar Minott, Ras Michael and Horace Andy. To many, he was to reggae what Berry Gordy was to R&B, and his “studio one sound” would become the blueprint for ska and rocksteady. Dodd died of a heart attack at the age of 74.
Bob Mercer is perhaps best remembered as the music industry veteran who helmed the wildly successful Now That’s What I Call Music! hit compilation series. But to many of those with whom he worked, he was above all, a beloved mentor and motivator. Since the Now series debuted in the United States in 1998, it has sold in the neighborhood of 77 million units combined. What was fairly unique about the series at the time, at least in the US, was that the CDs collected the biggest current dor recent hits of the day, in a partnership with the major labels. To many, the series would be a flop, but of course they were proven wrong over and over again. During his career, Mercer also held executive positions at EMI UK (where he signed the Sex Pistols, Queen, and T. Rex to name a few), PolyGram’s TV division, and New Door Records. Bob Mercer was 65 when he died of lung cancer on May 5, 2010.
Erika Roman was a popular radio personality at Orlando’s Power 95.3 FM where she hosted the morning show. Born in New York City, Roman began her radio career while still in college where she was a co-host at Stonybrook University’s WUSB. She also worked at Fever Records where she promoted their artists at night clubs and other events while still in college. Later, Roman went to work as a co-host with Ed Lover and Dr. Dre on Hot 97’s morning show. In 2006, Roman went to work at Power 95.3 in Orlando. Roman was killed on May 1, 2009 in a single car accident while trying to avoid a discarded piece of furniture in the road. She was 31.
Tom Donahue was a ground breaking disc jockey who took a San Francisco foreign language station and transformed it into America’s first “free form” station which would become the model for FM album oriented stations across the country. Donahue started his radio career in South Carolina in 1949, but moved to the Bay Area after the payola scandal where he started a record label for the Beau Brummels who he discovered and managed. e also produced concerts and opened a psychedelic club. In 1972, he became the GM of KSAN and encouraged the on-air talent to dig deep into the albums, play songs from different genres and eras, and inject political commentary. The station became an instant hit with the counter-culture, so Donuhue and his wife, Raechel Donahue successfully brought his idea to Los Angeles stations, KPPC and future legend, KMET. Similar stations spread across the country through the rest of the ‘70s. Donahue suffered a fatal heart attack on April 28, 1975.