BMG Mourns the Passing of Legendary Jamaican Producer, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

The man various known as Rainford Hugh Lee Perry, ‘King Perry’, ‘Scratch’, ‘The Upsetter’ and ‘Pipecock Jackxon’ has sadly passed away in Jamaica, aged 85.

 

Unconventional, innovative, imaginative, unpredictable, witty, dynamic and inventive are among the many traits that contributed to his creating an astounding body of work that helped shape the sound of Jamaican music. But his climb up the ladder of success was no means easy or swift and began well and truly on the bottom rung…

 

Typically, for a man who preferred to shroud himself in mystery, accounts of Scratch’s early life are sketchy and frequently contradictory. Over the years, the date of his birth has been variously listed as being anytime between 1936 and 1939, while the exact location was probably, if not definitely, a small, rural town called Kendal, situated roughly in the centre of Jamaica.

 

Of his formative years, Scratch divulged little, and that which he did relate sometimes bordered on the intentionally unbelievable,: claims of being a champion domino player and a celebrated dancer should be taken with a pinch of salt. What we do know about his early adulthood is due primarily to the recollections of others who came to know the enigmatic young man following his arrival in Kingston in the late Fifties.

 

From them we know that shortly after his arrival in the island’s bustling capital, he found gainful employment, running errands for Clement Seymour Dodd, the owner of the island’s largest sound system, ‘Sir Coxsone’s Downbeat’. At the time, Dodd had recently taken his first steps as a record producer and it was to be in his studio that Scratch’s creative talents were to become increasingly utilised. Before long, the energetic newcomer was bringing promising new acts to the attention of his employer, who, acknowledging his worker’s keen ear for talent, entrusted him with officially auditioning new acts, arranging sessions in the studio and, perhaps most significantly, writing and recording songs.

 

Sometime in 1963, Scratch finally saw the issue of his debut single, the driving ska number, ‘Old For New’, the relative success of which led to the follow-up, ‘Chicken Scratch’, the song from which he gained his most enduring moniker. He remained a key figure in Dodd’s operations throughout the early Sixties, engineering countless recording sessions and recording at least 50 different titles as a performer, but in 1966, the arrangement finally came to an end and Scratch sought work elsewhere.

 

Sessions for Karl ‘JJ’ Johnson, WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.), and Prince Buster ensued before he finally found regular work once more. Employed as a sound engineer for Joe Gibbs, he promptly rewarded his new employer with a series of superior rock steady singles, including his own ‘I Am the Upsetter’ a song that established another of his long-lasting nicknames. Such hits helped establish Gibbs to become a major force in Jamaican music, but by the spring of 1968, Scratch had decided only full independence would enable him to fulfil his creative potential, and assisted by fellow sound engineers Lynford ‘Andy Capp’ Anderson and Barry Lambert, he launched Upsetter Records.

The first single to see issue on the new imprint was a version of Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters’ ‘Honey Love’ performed by local singer Burt Walters, but while the disc failed to spark much in the way of interest, the follow-up, his own ‘People Funny Boy’ sold by the cartload, both in Jamaica and the UK. The cutting lyrics, lambasting Gibbs in much the same way he had slated Dodd in ‘I Am The Upsetter’, were given an extra edge by the record’s unusual production, which included over-dubbed crying effects. All of its parts together culminated in one of the most original and biggest Jamaican hits of 1968, with Scratch later estimating the disc had sold some 60,000 copies in total.

 

The hit not only ensured the future of Upsetter Records, its popularity in Britain prompted an agreement with Trojan Records, which launched its own version of his imprint early in 1969. The arrangement quickly paid dividends, and with just the second single released on the label, Trojan had a major hit on their hands. After months building on the club scene, the Upsetters’ instrumental double-header, ‘Return Of Django’ b/w ‘Dollar in the Teeth’ broke into the British pop charts, where it ultimately peaked at the number 5 spot that autumn.

 

Sales from the record helped finance the opening of the Upsetter Record shop at 36 Charles Street in the heart of downtown Kingston, the retail outlet that ensured Scratch kept his ear to the ground regarding tastes and trends. Over the next few months, record sales both locally and in Britain remained healthy, with a variety of performers benefiting from his inimitable talents, the most notable of their number being a vocal trio calling themselves Bob Marley & the Wailers. With Scratch’s unerring ability to push performers to new levels, the group recorded what many regard to be their finest body of work, with their Upsetter sessions producing the original versions of such classics as ‘Duppy Conqueror’, ‘Small Axe’ and ‘Keep On Moving’.

 

Throughout the early Seventies, Scratch reaffirmed his standing as one of Jamaica’s most successful and influential producers, and by 1973 he had acquired enough capital to finance the building of his own studio at his house at 5 Cardiff Crescent in the Kingston suburb of Washington Gardens. By the close of the year, the newly named Black Ark Studio was fully operational and there commenced a five-year period of unparalleled creativity in his career as a music maker.

 

Between 1974 and 1979, using relatively primitive equipment, Scratch produced some of the most spellbinding music of the decade, with significant hits including Susan Cadogan’s popular cover of ‘Hurt so Good’, Junior Byles’ hypnotic lament, ‘Curly Locks’ and a series of roots anthems, such as ‘Mistry Babylon’ by the Heptones, Max Romeo’s ‘Sipple Out Deh’ (aka ‘War in a Babylon’) and Junior Murvin’s strident ‘Police and Thieves’.

 

But all good things come to an end, and as the Eighties dawned, pressures of work, allied to an excessive lifestyle, increasingly began to take their toll on the producer. In 1981, he left Jamaica for the US, spending time on the East Coast before moving on to Holland and, later, London. A subsequent return to Kingston ultimately proved disastrous, with any chance of a permanent return to Black Ark well and truly scuppered following the studio’s destruction by fire in 1983.

Over the years that followed, Scratch continued to perform and record, often achieving significant success, as reflected in his 1983 Trojan collection, Jamaican ET, which took the Grammy award for the ‘Best Reggae Album’ of the year. But while later releases continued to surprise and even excite, his earlier Jamaican productions are still widely regarded as his finest works.

A pioneer and a true innovator, Scratch was responsible for some of the greatest recordings in Jamaican music history, hugely influencing the style and sound of reggae music, in both form and content.

 

The cause of the Upsetter’s death has yet to be confirmed.

 

He is survived by his wife, Mireille and his children to whom we send our sincere condolences.