Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Born Rainford Hugh Perry in 1936 in Kendal, Hanover, he grew up on Louis Jordan boogie-woogie and yank before ska, rocksteady, and reggae came into view. He didn't start making his own records until he was 25, cutting his teeth under Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at Studio One, an apprenticeship he later called too regimental for what he wanted to do. Working with his friend Andy Capp, he cut "People Funny Boy" in 1968; the record broke across Jamaica, sold 60,000 copies, and prefigured reggae's rhythmic signature, though Perry claims he never intended to keep making music himself after that. He took the nickname "Upsetter" from a song about a man who upset everything, deciding the name suited someone determined to upset the music business into getting better. In 1973 he built the Black Ark studio in his Washington Gardens backyard, a four-track operation where tape hiss, bird sound, and desk-tapping became instruments in their own right. He claimed his mother's Yoruba traditions and mystical encounters with stones shaped how he heard sound. He burned Black Ark down in 1978 and buried master tapes on his property, closing the chapter as strangely as he'd opened it. Perry went on producing and recording, with Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Congos, the Beastie Boys, The Orb, and others, until his death in 2021, never losing the riddling, prophetic speech that made every interview with him its own kind of performance.
At a glance
- Active
- 1968–2021
- From
- Kendal, Jamaica
- Listening guide track
- “Return of the Super Ape”
Listen
In the 70s Dub Reggae listening guide: “Return of the Super Ape”
In the issues
- 70s Dub ReggaePrincipal · 1968-1980
70s Dub Reggae is a genre from Kingston, Jamaica, 1968–1980. Its principal artists include King Tubby, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Augustus Pablo. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 12 dated events.
Places
- The Black Ark StudioKingston · 1973-1978 · 70s Dub Reggae
Lee 'Scratch' Perry's legendary backyard studio in Washington Gardens produced some of reggae and dub's most innovative recordings despite its basic 4-track setup, until it burned down in 1978.
Voices
Quotations from the issues, each matched word for word against the source it links to.
“It was quite hard back then, a lot of people had no money but everyone wanted to go to the soundsystem. We would have people fighting all the time, like fighters. Everyone had a set of bad men – Coxonne would have a set of bad man.”
“Too much stress in Jamaica, all the time. Everybody want money, everybody want paid. Everyone got problem and want me to solve their problem. Nobody gave me anything, people just took everything.”