Lee Perry biography

Synopsis

Early Career

A pioneering reggae artist and music producer, Rainford Hugh Perry (later known as Lee "Scratch" Perry) was born March 20, 1936, in Kendal, Jamaica. Raised in a rural, poor section of his home country, Lee Perry harbored dreams of making it big in the world of music.

In the late 1950s, Perry set out to pursue his dream, moving to Kingston, where a new musical genre, reggae, had grabbed hold of the city and the growing recording industry. As a young man trying to carve out a living in the music world, Perry took any work that came his way. Hired as a handyman, then a janitor at different music studios, he slowing worked his way up the ladder until he was writing songs.

Perry eventually hooked on with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, founder of Studio One, an influential recording studio, where a young Bob Marley would soon be crafting his sound. But Perry's relationship with Dodd proved turbulent, and after falling out with his boos, he started work at Whirl Records and its head man, Joe Gibbs.

Just as he had with Dodd, Perry had his problems with Gibbs and in 1968 exited Whirl and ventured out on his own to start his own label, Upsetter.

Commerical Success

The decision to go into business for himself proved to be masterful. The same year he opened Upsetter, he released the company's first single, a track he wrote and sang himself, "People Funny Boy," which served as a direct attack on his old boss, Joe Gibbs. Innovative for its early use of a sample, the single became a success in Jamaica and helped pave the way for even more sales with his next release, Return Of Django, in 1969.

The album didn't just have lasting power in his home country, it made Perry a star in the United Kingdom, where it enjoyed considerable sales. From that point on, Perry rolled out a succession of hit singles under a variety of pseudonyms such as "Jah Lion," "Pipecock Jakxon," "Super Ape" and "the Upsetter."

As his star power grew, so did his penchant for wearing outrageous clothes and delving deeper into more experimental sounds. Out of his early interest in sampling came Perry's full embrace of dub music, an off-shoot of reggae that relies heavily on remixing previous recordings.

In addition to his own music, Perry also started working with other artists, most notably Bob Marley and the Wailers. His work as a producer inspired Perry to create his own studio, Black Ark. By the 1970s, Perry's renown as a producer propelled him into work with various non-reggae artists, from The Clash to Paul McCartney.