U-Roy – The Music's Over

Died On This Date (May 5, 2004) Coxsone Dodd / Legendary Reggae Producer

themusicsover May 5, 2010 0 Comments

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.

Arranger Musician Producer Reggae Singer

Died On This Date (November 14, 1984) Keith Hudson / Dub Pioneer

themusicsover November 14, 2009 1 Comments

Keith Hudson
1946 – November 14, 1984

keith-hudson Known as the “Dark Prince of Reggae,” Keith Hudson was a reggae musician, singer, songwriter and producer who helped usher in the practice of “dub.” As a child growing up in Kingston, Hudson was a schoolmate of such future legends as Bob Marley, Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson. Even at an early age, he gravitated toward the riddems that would eventually be called ska and reggae. He soon became a disciple of Coxsone Dodd, the legendary Jamaican producer. In 1960, Hudson produced his first record by a group of musicians who would soon become members of the Skatalites. His first hit as a producer came in the late ’60s thanks to “Old Fashioned Way,” a record he made with Boothe. He went on to work with Wilson, Alton Ellis and U-Roy. He began making his own records during the ’70s and began experimenting with dub. His albums at the time were critical hits in Jamaica. His 1975 Pick A Dub is considered a masterpiece and is widely regarded as the very first deliberately thematic dub album. Hudson moved to New York City not long after the release of Pick A Dub and eventually started his own label. He was diagnosed with lung cancer during the summer of 1984, and was 38 when he died of it four months later.