Today is a sad day for music i think. One of my big musical heroes and one of the most innovative music persons (as producer) of the last century had died tonight in Kingston. Lee Perry became 85 and was still in good health we thought as he was very active but died last night in a hospital in Kingston after a short illness.
He was a pioneer (as assistant of Coxonne Dodd at Studio One since the late 1950's) of ska and reggae music and was one of the main persons involved in the invention of dub (next to King Tubby) since 1968 and so a key figure in modern pop music as dub had a massive influence on all pop music since the mid 70's. He was still making and releasing a lot of music with all kind of other artists, reggae or otherwise. He was also the mentor of Bob Marley & The wailers since they entered Studio One in 1962 and learned Bob a lot. His Black Ark recordings (1970-1979) with various artist (Bob Marley (altough mostly released on Island records), Max Romeo, The Congos, Junior Byles, The Heptones, ...) are among the finest that reggae can give you.
Keith Richards once described him as “the Salvador Dalí of music. He’s a mystery. The world is his instrument. You just have to listen.” He balanced on the border between genious and crazy but managed to stay on the good side most of his life and kept innovating till the end. His last (still unreleased) recordings are from a few weeks ago. I and many will miss him surely.
He was a pioneer (as assistant of Coxonne Dodd at Studio One since the late 1950's) of ska and reggae music and was one of the main persons involved in the invention of dub (next to King Tubby) since 1968 and so a key figure in modern pop music as dub had a massive influence on all pop music since the mid 70's. He was still making and releasing a lot of music with all kind of other artists, reggae or otherwise. He was also the mentor of Bob Marley & The wailers since they entered Studio One in 1962 and learned Bob a lot. His Black Ark recordings (1970-1979) with various artist (Bob Marley (altough mostly released on Island records), Max Romeo, The Congos, Junior Byles, The Heptones, ...) are among the finest that reggae can give you.
Keith Richards once described him as “the Salvador Dalí of music. He’s a mystery. The world is his instrument. You just have to listen.” He balanced on the border between genious and crazy but managed to stay on the good side most of his life and kept innovating till the end. His last (still unreleased) recordings are from a few weeks ago. I and many will miss him surely.
The saddest news I've had for a very, very long time!
Lee Perry - I Am A Madman - (Battle Of Armagideon) - YouTube
It was barely two weeks ago we sat on the couch listening to tunes, babbling on about how he was still going so strong at 85! So abruptly.
Merged the new thread by myleftear into this original thread.