Perry and his backing band commercially weaponized the dub sound as producer on numerous acclaimed mid-Seventies reggae records - Max Romeo’s War Ina Babylon, the Heptones’ Party Time, the Congos’ Heart of the Congos and Junior Murvin’s Police & Thieves - that helped establish Jamaican music as an international art form and powerhouse. With his seasoned backing band the Upsetters - a nod to Perry’s proclamation “I am the Upsetter” - Perry shepherded dub masterpieces like 1973’s Blackboard Jungle, the Upsetters’ landmark 1976 LP Super Ape and Perry’s own Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread.
From there, it’s just experimenting with the sounds of the animals in the ark.”
“The bass is the brain, and the drum is the heart,” Perry told Rolling Stone in 2010. He took my songs and gave them to people like Delroy Wilson. “Coxsone never wanted to give a country boy a chance. Perry’s career in music began in the late Fifties when he was employed to sell records for Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s Downbeat Sound System by the early Sixties, Dodd opened his famed Studio One, where Perry - nicknamed “Little” at the time, due to his 4’11″ stature - got his first experience in the recording studio, producing a few dozens song for the label. Through dominoes I practiced my mind and learned to read the minds of others. “When I left school there was nothing to do except field work. Everything I have learned has come from nature,” Perry told NME in 1984. I went to school… I learned nothing at all. “My father worked on the road, my mother in the fields. “Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry transfigured reggae’s loping cadence and R&B heart into something darker, holier and more dangerous - a music of visionary rhythmic textures and biblical-warrior vengeance,” David Fricke wrote in his 1997 review of the Arkology compilation.īorn in rural Jamaica in 1936, the scrappy Rainford Hugh “Lee” Perry moved to Kingston in the early Sixties. “It was Lee Perry’s sound and the Jamaican toasters that inspired us to start hip-hop,” Afrika Bambaataa said. Like Phil Spector, he has a gift of not only hearing sounds that come from nowhere else, but also translating those sounds to the musicians.
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More than a producer, he knows how to inspire the artist’s soul. “You could never put your finger on Lee Perry – he’s the Salvador Dali of music,” Keith Richards told Rolling Stone in 2010. Let us all listen to his deep catalog in tribute.”Ī post shared by Questlove a career spanning seven decades, Perry was one of music’s most prolific artists Kiss Me Neck, a book that lists Perry’s entire recording output through the early 2000s, runs over 300 pages. We are truly grateful to have been inspired by, worked with and collaborated with this true legend. May his soul Rest In Peace.”īeastie Boys’ Mike D wrote on social media Sunday, “We send the most love and respect we can to Lee Perry who passed today, to his family and loved ones and the many he influenced with his pioneering spirit and work. Undoubtedly, Lee Scratch Perry will always be remembered for his sterling contribution to the music fraternity.
He has worked with and produced for various artistes, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Congos, Adrian Sherwood, the Beastie Boys, and many others. Cause of death was unknown at press time.Īndrew Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, tweeted Sunday, “My deep condolences to the family, friends, and fans of legendary record producer and singer, Rainford Hugh Perry OD, affectionately known as ‘Lee Scratch’ Perry. The Jamaican Observer reports that Perry died Sunday at the Noel Holmes Hospital in western Jamaica. Lee “Scratch” Perry, the monumental reggae singer, producer and studio wizard who pushed the boundaries of Jamaican music - and as a byproduct, rock, hip-hop and dance - with his explorations into dub, has died at the age of 85.
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