Died On This Date (February 21, 2008) Joe Gibbs / Reggae Producer

themusicsover February 21, 2010 1 Comments

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.