Byron Lee – The Mighty Dragon

Consistently overlooked by reggae historians for his populist approach to music making, Byron Lee nonetheless undeniably played a significant role in the global success of Jamaican music in the sixties and seventies.

After embarking on a career fronting the Dragonaires in the late fifties, he scored a series of local hits and helped spread the sound of ska around the globe with international appearances and a series of recordings that saw release on major labels in the US and Europe.

Later, his Dynamic Sounds recording facility and pressing plant became the go-to places for Jamaican music producers to cut and manufacture their music, while his numerous record labels provided an outlet for a host of established and new performers, with their number including the likes of Bob Marley & the Wailers, Augustus Pablo, Barry Biggs, Boris Gardiner, Alton Ellis, Lloyd Charmers and Tommy McCook.

Yet Byron’s showmanship and business accumen resulted in his work being widely disragarded by purists, particularly following the onset of roots reggae in the mid-seventies.

Byron sadly passed away on 4th November 2008, since which time many of those who had previously dismissed his work have re-evaluated his catalogue and found a new respect for both his music and contribution to the development and global success of Jamaican music.

To mark the the anniversary of his passing, Byron is this week’s Trojan Artist of the Week, with a new bio and playlist posted in the Artists section on this site.

To learn more about his career while enjoying some of the best-known ska and reggae tracks on which he performed with his band, the Dragonaires, simply click here or on the Artists link at the top of the homepage, then scroll down to the bottom of the alphabetically-ordered list of names until you reach Byron Lee.