Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Jah Thomas
Background	solo_singer
Born
Died
Origin	Kingston, Jamaica
Instrument	Vocals, Producer
Genre	Reggae

Nkrumah "Jah" Thomas (b. 1955, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae deejay and record producer who first came to prominence in the 1970s, later setting up his own Midnight Rock and Nura labels.

Biography

Named Nkrumah after African nationalist leader Kwame Nkrumah, he adopted the stage name Jah Thomas and began deejaying in the mid-1970s, working with producers such as Alvin Ranglin, who released his single "Midnight Rock", which topped the Jamaican chart in 1976. Thomas's debut album, Stop Yuh Loafin' gained international recognition via a release on the newly-formed Greensleeves Records label. Further deejay albums appeared in the late 1970s, before Thomas began concentrating on producing other artists, such as Robert Ffrench, Anthony Johnson, Triston Palmer, Johnny Osbourne, Michael Palmer, Barry Brown, Barrington Levy, Sugar Minott, Early B, Ranking Toyan, and Robin Hood, at the same time setting up the Midnight Rock record label, one of the most successful performer-owned labels of the period. Midnight Rock soon had a hit record in the shape of Thomas's "Cricket Lovely Cricket". Thomas would often use the mixing talents of Scientist, and the Roots Radics band. He later also set up the Nura label.

He is the father of Jamaican reggae sensation, Da'Ville.

Discography

Stop Yuh Loafin' (1978) Greensleeves

Dance On The Corner (1979) Midnight Rock

Nah Fight Over Woman (1980) Tad's

Black Ash Dub (1980) Trojan (with The Revolutionaries)

Tribute to the Reggae King (1981) Midnight Rock

Dance Hall Connection (1982) Silver Camel

Dance Hall Stylee (1982) Daddy Kool/Silver Camel

Shoulder Move (1983) Midnight Rock

Jah Thomas Meets Scientist In Dub Conference (1996) Munich

Triston Palmer Meets Jah Thomas In Discostyle (1996) Munich

Jah Thomas Meets King Tubby Inna Roots Of Dub (1997) Rhino

Jah Thomas Meets The Roots Radics Dubbing (1999) Trojan

Jah Thomas meets Barrington Levy inna Dancehall Style Culture Press

King Tubby's Hidden Treasure(1999) Trojan (Jah Thomas & The Roots Radics)

Lyrics For Sale Rhino

Prophecy Of Dub Abraham (Jah Thomas & The Roots Radics)

Jah Thomas Meets King Tubby In The House of Dub Majestic Reggae

Roots Dancehall Party (2003) Silver Kamel

Big Dance A Keep (2005) Silver Kamel

Big Dance Dub (2005) Silver Kamel

Liquid Brass (2005) Silver Kamel

Jah Thomas Presents... (2007) Ras Sta Reggae

Jah Thomas Meets... (2007) Ras Sta Reggae

References

External links

Jah Thomas at Roots Archives

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:people from Manchester Parish Category:Jamaican reggae musicians

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Barrington Levy
Background	solo_singer
Born	April 30, 1964
Origin	Clarendon, Jamaica
Genre	Reggae, dancehall, reggae fusion
Years active	1976–present
Label	MCA Records
Url	www.barringtonlevy.net

Barrington Levy (born 30 April 1964, Clarendon, Jamaica) Levy established his solo career the next year with "A Long Time Since We Don't Have No Love"; In 1979, Levy met Henry "Junjo" Lawes and Hyman Wright, both record producers, and recorded several singles with the Roots Radics, including "Al Yah We Deh", "Looking My Love", "Englishman", "Skylarking", "Wedding Ring Aside" and "Collie Weed", all of which became hits and established Levy's career. Levy's next few singles were similarly successful, including "Shine Eye Girl", "Wicked Intention", "Jumpy Girl", "Disco Music", "Reggae Music", "Never Tear My Love Apart", "Jah", "You Made Me So Happy" and "When You're Young and in Love". Levy then recorded several duets with Toyan, Jah Thomas and Trinity, and appeared at Reggae Sunsplash in 1980 and 1981.

By the time his 1980 album Robin Hood was released, Levy was one of the biggest Jamaican stars, and saw his international fame growing as well, especially in the United Kingdom. Taking a break from albums, Levy then released a series of hit singles, including "Mary Long Tongue", "In the Dark", "Too Poor", "I Have a Problem", "Even Tide Fire a Disaster", "I'm Not in Love", "You Have It", "Love of Jah", "Under Mi Sensi", "Tomorrow Is Another Day", "Robberman", "Black Roses", "My Woman" and "Money Move". He returned to LPs with Lifestyle and Money Move, followed by a British hit album called Here I Come; Levy received the Best Vocalist prize at the British Reggae Awards in 1984.

In 2004, he contributed to a track on the album White People by Handsome Boy Modeling School, a project by Prince Paul and Dan the Automator. He also did some collaborations with Slightly Stoopid on their 2005 album Closer To The Sun. Most recently, Levy made a guest appearance on the single "No Fuss" by Red-1 of the Rascalz, from his 2007 album Beg For Nothing.

"Here I Come" is also featured in Saints Row 2 and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.

He also appeared on a demo for Jadakiss' latest album The Last Kiss called Hard Times

Discography

Albums

Bounty Hunter (1979) Jah Life

Shine Eye Gal (1979), Burning Sounds

Englishman (1979), Greensleeves

Robin Hood (1980), Greensleeves

Doh Ray Me (1980), JB

Run Come Ya! (1981), Jah Life

21 Girls Salute (1982), Jah Life

Poor Man Style (1983), Trojan

Lifestyle (1983), GG's

Teach Me Culture (1983), Live & Learn

Money Move (1983), Powerhouse

Here I Come (1984), Greensleeves

Barrington Levy Meets Frankie Paul (1984), Ariwa - with Frankie Paul

Barrington Levy (1984), Clocktower

Prison Oval Rock (1985), Volcano

Open Book (1985), Tuff Gong

Clash Of The 80s (1986), Cornerstone - with Cocoa Tea

Love the Life You Live (1988), Time

Live and Learn Presents Beres Hammond and Barrington Levy (1990), Live & Learn - with Beres Hammond

Divine (1991), Island/Mango

Turning Point (1992), Greensleeves

Barrington (1993), MCA

Duets (1995), RAS - also released as DJ Counteraction (1995), Greensleeves

Time Capsule (1996), RAS - recorded 1982

Living Dangerously (1998), Breakaway

Wanted (2005), 2B1 - CD+DVD

Working Title TBA

References

External links

Official website

Discography

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Dancehall musicians Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Reggae fusion artists Category:Jamaican male singers Category:People from Clarendon Parish

Thomas Solomon (born 1969 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American escape artist and magician.

Thomas Solomon began his career fascinated with mechanical devices . . . especially locks. At the age of thirteen, too young to acquire a legal work permit, he was apprenticed (as a favor) to a local locksmith for the summer with the "enviable" and unpaid job requirement of answering the phone and sweeping the floors. Endearing himself to the lock professionals with his quest for knowledge, they gradually took him 'under their wing' teaching him the 'real work'; how to open basic lever, warded, disc and pin tumbler locks without keys; how to fashion lock-opening tools from everyday objects; and how to crack safes. In the process,he learned that success in opening locks and safes is not just knowledge, but equal parts finesse, practice and patience—and mastering the shop's power and hand tools didn't hurt either. Solomon never forgot what he learned and has thus afforded a knowledge of locks that today is among the best in the world. It is said he is able to fashion a tool to open a lock with only a quick glance at the key.

Around age sixteen, a separate interest in stage magic began to blossom. To Solomon, the modus operandi of most illusions and stage magic ran parallel with his interest in mechanics. He's also said it helped him to overcome his shyness and meet girls! He began experimenting with a magic act of self-working mechanical apparatus and sleight-of-hand.

The Great Escape

In Milwaukee, then Chicago, Solomon first presented "The Great Escape," a show combining magic with one escape from a locked chain in which he demonstrated lock-picking. The nightclub, sensing potential asked Solomon to drop the magic and concentrate only on escapes. As a marketing ploy, the nightclub asked participants to bring whatever they wanted to the theatre (handcuffs, locks, and straitjackets) to challenge the magician. It is said that over the course of three years, he never failed.

He has performed his award-winning handcuff act (2000 World Magic Awards, PAX Television) at The Roxy, The Magic Castle, Bally's and many others. He has performed aboard ships for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line traveling throughout Bermuda and the Caribbean. In 1988 he entertained President Ronald Reagan at the White House where he escaped the handcuffs of the Uniformed Secret Service. He performed again in 1989 for President George Bush and Vice-President Dan Quayle at the White House. He has performed escapes and magic for major trade show clients, Ford Motor Company, State Farm Insurance, Procter & Gamble, Absolut Vodka, Winston/Salem Cigarettes, Compaq Computers, Deutsche Bank, Birdseye Frozen Foods, Black and Decker and many, many others.

Accomplishments

To date (2008), Solomon has escaped from more than 5000 pairs of handcuffs of all different types from all times in history. These include:

Standard issue police restraints, Time Release Spider Lock, French "I" Bar restraint, Australian Letter Cipher Lock, Lilly Irons (imprisoned the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators) Various German restraints including Berliners, the Deutsche Polizei, the Dortmunder, Clejusos, and Dollars. Various British restraints including Darbys, Sheffields and Hiatts. Various French restraints including the Lapegy and La Massenotte. Various Italian restraints of the Caribineri. Various American restraints including Towers, Smith & Wesson and Peerless. Various Communist bloc restraints including those from Bulgaria, Russia and East Germany. Solomon is the only escape artist to have escaped from the handcuffs that held the Lincoln assassination co-conspirator, Lewis Payne (Powell). Also, he has escaped the leg irons that imprisoned Billy the Kid at the Lincoln County Courthouse in 1881.

Solomon has escaped two locked safes in his career, one of them underwater for the British television show, Thomas Solomon: The Escape Artist. Solomon has escaped 19 jails throughout his career in New York City, London, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Trenton and others. Most notable were his escapes from the maximum security prison Pentonville in the UK (that houses IRA prisoners) and from Al Capone's personal cell at Eastern State Penitentiary.

Solomon is the only person to have escaped the leather and canvas money bag previously used by the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City.

He has accomplished hundreds of straitjacket releases, most notably an escape from the all-leather straitjacket specifically created to thwart him by Menkes Leather Works. He escaped a tightly bound straitjacket in the pouring rain hanging upside down from a tower crane 150 feet above the street in Portland, Oregon in December 2006.

Superstitions/Hidden Messages

While Solomon has never endorsed psychic ability in himself or others, he does acknowledge a 'magic' or a supernatural energy beyond human understanding that communicates through our five senses and intuition, as well as through numbers, words, dreams, and symbols. A believer in the Law of Karma and the power of symbolic messages in dreams, Solomon told the Magic Circular in a recent interview that he himself is plagued by recurring, sequential and often disturbing dreams and has been since childhood. The Magic Circular interviews, Escape Velocity, 2004

He spoke candidly about several of these bizarre characters in his dreams: the fluid man in the un-wrinkled suit who stands on the corner and won't let him cross the street due to a funeral procession that is his own; the statues in the church he visits that are missing or changed, the young boy that poses rhetorical questions about conflicts in the world and hints at answers, the women with the auburn hair and the yellow dress who never stops crying as well as many others.

Solomon also has a fascination with ciphers, codes and other wordplay. He is an amateur cryptographer and is striving to create an unbreakable cipher, that disallows complicated encryption and decryption techniques—making it user-friendly in the field. His posters, some images, his promotional decks of playing cards, DVDs and other items often contain hidden messages; some are written in cipher or code. Others are written backwards or worked in with graphics (as in the blue poster). He has used palindromes, recursive acronyms, Morse code and other devices to conceal messages, solutions to an escape, names or important dates related to the image. In a famous picture taken of him on the New York City subway, there are no less than six hidden images and written messages buried within the picture.

Injuries

Four broken fingers on left hand, broken right wrist (twice), broken right foot, broken right ankle, perforated left ear drum, inch long laceration above left eye within eyebrow, longitudinal fracture at the base of fifth finger of left hand.

Stage

Theatre of the Macabre Off Broadway 1995-1998 (1500 performances)

Ellusions Off Broadway 2002-2003

Television

World Magic Awards 2000 PAX Television, Thomas Solomon: The Escape Artist 2003 Channel Four Great Britain, The History of Magic 2004 BBC Great Britain, The Secret World of Magicians 2005 Channel Five Great Britain No Jail Can Hold Me 2007 The History Channel

Published works

"Diaries of an Escape Artist" (1999), "Escape!!!" (2003) and "Escape Velocity" (2004).

External links

Official site

Thomas Solomon Blog

References and Citations

The Chicago Tribune, TEMPO Section, December, 1986 The Milwaukee Journal, November, 1982 The Magic Circular—Escape Velocity, 2003—2006 Interview, The Magic Circular, December 2005 GENII, The Conjurors Magazine, September 2003 Interview—The London Times—August 2003

Category:American magicians Category:Escapologists Category:Living people Category:1969 births

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Tom Mix
Caption	Tom Mix, 1925
Birth name	Thomas Hezikiah Mix
Birth date	January 06, 1880
Birth place	Mix Run, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death date	October 12, 1940
Death place	Florence, Arizona, U.S.
Other names	Thomas Edwin Mix
Years active	1909–1935
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Grace I. Allin (1902–1903) Kitty Jewel Perinne (1905–1906) Olive Stokes (1907–1917) Victoria Forde (1918–1931) Mabel Hubbard Ward (1932–1940)
Website	http://www.spiritofthebear.com/

Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix;

1930s

Mix appeared with the Sells-Floto Circus in 1929, 1930 and 1931 at a reported weekly salary of $20,000. He and Forde were divorced in 1931. Meanwhile the Great Depression (along with the actor's free spending ways and many wives) had reportedly wiped out most of his savings. In 1932 he married his fifth wife, Mabel Hubbard Ward. Universal Pictures approached him that year with an offer to do talkies which included script and cast approval. He did nine pictures for Universal, but because of injuries he received while filming he was reluctant to continue with any more. Mix then appeared with the Sam B. Dill circus, which he reportedly bought two years later (1935).

Mix's last screen appearance was a 15-episode sound Mascot Pictures serial, The Miracle Rider (1935), receiving $40,000 for four weeks of filming. Also that year, Texas governor James Allred named Mix an honorary Texas Ranger. Mix went back to circus performing, this time with his eldest daughter Ruth, who had appeared in some of his films. In 1938, Mix went to Europe on a promotional trip, while his daughter Ruth stayed behind to manage his circus, which soon failed. He later excluded her from his will. He had reportedly made over $6,000,000 (approaching $400 million in early 21st century, inflation-adjusted values) during his 26-year film career.

Radio

In 1933 Ralston-Purina obtained his permission to produce a Tom Mix radio series called Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters which, but for one year during World War II, was popular throughout most of the 1930s through the early 1950s. Mix never appeared on these broadcasts and was instead played by radio actors: Artells Dickson (early 1930s), Jack Holden (from 1937), Russell Thorsen (early 1940s) and Joe "Curley" Bradley (from 1944). Others in the supporting cast included George Gobel, Harold Peary and Willard Waterman. The Ralston company offered ads during the Tom Mix radio program for listeners to send in for a series of 12 special Ralston-Tom Mix Comic books available only by writing the Ralston Company by mail.

Death

On the afternoon of October 12, 1940, Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton near Florence, Arizona, (between Tucson and Phoenix) on Arizona State Route 79. Mix had been visiting Pima County Sheriff Ed Nichols in Tucson and had stopped at The Oracle Junction Inn, a popular gambling and drinking establishment, where he had called and spoken with his agent, when he came upon construction barriers at a bridge previously washed away by a flash flood. A work crew watched as he was unable to brake in time and his car swerved twice then rolled into a gully, pinning his body beneath. A large polished aluminum suitcase containing a large sum of money, traveler's checks and jewels, which he had placed on the package shelf behind him flew forward and struck Mix in the back of the head, shattering his skull and breaking his neck. The 60-year-old actor was killed almost instantly. Eyewitnesses said Mix was traveling at 80 MPH before the accident.

A small stone memorial marks the site of his death on State Route 79 and the nearby gully is named "Tom Mix Wash". The plaque on the marker contains an inscription: "In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men." Mix is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Legacy

Tom Mix was "the King of Cowboys" when Ronald Reagan and John Wayne were youngsters and the influence of his screen persona can be seen in their approach to portraying cowboys. When an injury caused football player John Wayne to drop out of USC, Tom Mix helped him get a job moving props in the back lot of Fox Studios.

By most accounts, Tom Mix made 336 movies throughout his career. As of 2007, only about 10% of these were reportedly available for viewing, although it was unclear how many of these films are now considered lost films.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Tom Mix has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street. His cowboy boot prints, palm prints and his famous horse Tony's hoof prints are at Grauman's Chinese Theatre at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1958 he was inducted posthumously into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1959 a 'Monument To The Stars' was erected on Beverly Dr. (where it intersects with Olympic Blvd. & becomes Beverwil) in Beverly Hills. The memorial consists of a bronze-green spiral of sprocketed "camera film" above a multi-sided tower, embossed with full-length likenesses of early stars who appeared in famous silent movies. Those memorialized include Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers, Conrad Nagel, Rudolph Valentino, Fred Niblo, Tom Mix, and Harold Lloyd. There is a Tom Mix museum in Dewey, Oklahoma and another in Mix Run, Pennsylvania. Between 1980 and 2004, 21 Tom Mix festivals were held during the month of September, most of them in DuBois, Pennsylvania.

Cultural references

By the 21st century, most people were more familiar with Tom Mix's name through the many cultural references which have echoed long after his death, rather than from having seen his films. Cereal boxtop premiums (radio premiums) from the 1940s relating to Mix are still traded by collectors. Mix was referred to in Conny Froboess' 1951 song "Pack' die Badehose ein" and in a 1953 Dinah Washington song, "TV Is the Thing This Year" for EmArcy Records (signifying a change in technology from radio to television).

In the JD Salinger short story "The Laughing Man", the Chief is described as having "the most photogenic features of Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, and Tom Mix."

In 1967 Mix was featured with many other 20th century celebrities on the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In Woody Allen's 1983 film Zelig, archival footage is shown of Mix attending a party at Hearst Castle near San Simeon, California.

Bruce Willis played Tom Mix in the 1988 Blake Edwards film Sunset with James Garner as Wyatt Earp. In The Beverly Hillbillies, Jed Clampett's reason for going to Beverly Hills was to live in the same place as Tom Mix.

Daryl Ponicsan's novel Tom Mix Died for Your Sins (1975) evokes Mix's life and personality. Clifford Irving offered a pseudo-autobiographical version of Mix's early adulthood, drawing him as a brash young gringo who befriends and then joins up with the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in the novel Tom Mix and Pancho Villa (1982).

In the 2008 movie Changeling. starring Angelina Jolie, the mysterious little boy claiming to be Walter Collins finally confesses to the police that the reason he ran away to Los Angeles was in hopes of meeting Tom Mix and his horse Tony.

James Horwitz's book They Went Thataway (1975) ends with Horwitz visiting Tom Mix Wash (where Mix died) and leaving his childhood cowboy boots at the foot of the monument.

A resurrected Tom Mix appeared in two of Philip José Farmer's Riverworld novels, The Dark Design (1977) and The Magic Labyrinth (1980) as a traveling companion of Jack London, along with a short story featured in the anthology Riverworld and Other Stories (1979).

In the "Mulcahy's War" episode of M*A*S*H Father Mulcahy used a Tom Mix pocket knife to perform an emergency tracheotomy (1976).

Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novel The Penultimate Truth features an underground bunker named 'the Tom Mix'.

In (1993), Tom Mix is a high profile figure in Gotham society and takes up Houdini's offer of a free punch to the stomach.

In an episode of Raw Toonage, Bonkers D. Bobcat plays a cowboy character named "Trail Mix Bonkers", an obvious homage to Tom Mix, as well as a play on both his name and trail mix.

The menacing cowboy character in David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive contains oblique references to Mix.

The ghost of Tom Mix haunted a Hollywood couple in the supernatural thriller The Ghosts of Edendale (2004).

Ralston-Purina briefly revived its Tom Mix boxtop fan club during the 1980s and in 2007 had Tom Mix pages on the company's website.

Tom Mix is mentioned as being a pall bearer and weeping at the funeral for Wyatt Earp at the beginning of the end credits for the 1993 George P. Cosmatos film Tombstone.

In the Doctor Who episode "The Gunfighters", the TARDIS lands at Tombstone, Arizona in 1881, where the Doctor says he doesn't understand why they want to dress like Tom Mix.

The United States Postal Service has commemorated Tom Mix on a first-class mail postage stamp.

Italian comic series Captain Miki was renamed by comics calligrapher Ferdi Sayışman as "Captain Tom Mix" (Yüzbaşı Tommiks) in the 70s and comics is being published with this name till today.

In the series Bewitched in the episode "Serena's Youth Pill", Darin tries to convince young Larry Tate to drink the magic antidote by telling him it would help Larry grow up to be a cowboy like Tom Mix.

In the 2010 Boardwalk Empire episode "The Emerald City", Nucky Thompson's servant Eddie Kessler offers to frisk someone who's come to see him. Nucky chides him: "You're Tom Mix all of a sudden?"

Filmography (talkies)

Destry Rides Again (1932)

The Rider of Death Valley (1932)

The Texas Bad Man (1932)

My Pal, the King (1932)

The Fourth Horseman (1932)

Hidden Gold (1932)

Flaming Guns (1932)

Terror Trail (1933)

Rustlers' Roundup (1933)

The Miracle Rider (1935) (Mascot Pictures serial)

References

Further reading

Robert S. Birchard, "King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies" Burbank: Riverwood Press, 1993 ISBN 1880756056

Ben Ohmart, It's That Time Again Albany: BearManor Media, 2002 ISBN 0-9714570-2-6.

David W. Menefee, The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era Albany: Bear Manor Media, 2007.

Olive Stokes Mix with Eric Heath, The Fabulous Tom Mix, New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1957.

Paul E. Mix, The Life and Legend of Tom Mix, New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1972.

Jeanine Basinger, Silent Stars, 1999 ISBN 0-8195-6451-6. (chapter on Tom Mix and William S. Hart)

Richard D. Jensen, "The Amazing Tom Mix: The Most Famous Cowboy of the Movies" iUniverse, Inc, 2005 ISBN 0595359493 ISBN 978-0595359493.

External links

Biographical pages with many illustrations, including Mix's Cord automobile

Ralston Foods' Tom Mix pages

Photographs of Tom Mix

Photographs and real vs fictitious life of Tom Mix

Category:1880 births Category:1940 deaths Category:American film actors Category:American silent film actors Category:Actors from Pennsylvania Category:Road accident deaths in Arizona Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:Wild west shows

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Toyan
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Byron Letts
Alias	Ranking Toyan, Papa Toyan
Born
Died
Origin	Kingston, Jamaica
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Reggae

Toyan aka Ranking Toyan (born Byron Letts, died 1991) was a Jamaican reggae deejay active since the mid-1970s and best known for his early 1980s recordings.

Biography

Toyan began his career in 1974, deejaying on Kingston's sound systems, such as Socialist Roots and Romantic HiFi. He recorded his debut single, "Disco Pants" in the late 1970s for producer Don Mais. He went on to work extensively with Joseph Hoo Kim and Jah Thomas, resulting in a string of hits including "Girls Nowadays", "Kill No Man", "John Tom", and "Talk of the Town", as well as combination hits with The Mighty Diamonds ("Pretty Woman"), Badoo ("Rocking the 5000"), and Freddie McGregor ("Roots Man Skanking"). In 1981 he joined Henry "Junjo" Lawes' Volcano Sound system, and toured Canada. With Lawes, he recorded the album How the West Was Won, which is regarded as his best work, and went on to produce his own work and that of others such as Billy Boyo and Anthony Johnson. He toured the United Kingdom with the Jah Prophecy band and performed in Jamaica alongside Dennis Brown.

He was murdered in Jamaica in 1991.

Albums

How The West Was Won (1981) Greensleeves

Toyan (1982) J&L;

Superstar Yellowman Has Arrived With Toyan (1982) Joe Gibbs (with Yellowman)

DJ Clash (1982) Volcano/Greensleeves (with Nicodemus)

Spar With Me (1982) Jah Guidance

Ghetto Man Skank (1983) Silver Camel

DJ Daddy (1983) Upfront

Nice Time (1983) Jam Rock/Pre (with Triston Palma)

Every Posse Want Me (1983) Live & Learn

Murder (1983) Vista Sounds (with Tipper Lee & Johnny Slaughter)

Hot Bubble Gum (1984) Power House

Early Days Roots Tradition

References

External links

Toyan at Roots Archives

Toyan at Reggaepedia

Category:1991 deaths Category:people from Kingston, Jamaica Category:Jamaican reggae musicians

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	King Tubby
Background	non_performing_personnel
Birth name	Osbourne Ruddock
Born	28 January 1941
Died	6 February 1989
Origin	Jamaica
Genre	Reggae, Dub
Occupation	Sound engineer

King Tubby (born Osbourne Ruddock, January 28, 1941 – February 6, 1989) was a Jamaican electronics and sound engineer, known primarily for his influence on the development of dub music in the 1960s and 1970s. Tubby's innovative studio work, which saw him elevate the role of the mixing engineer to a creative fame previously only reserved for composers and musicians, would prove to be highly influential across many genres of popular music. He is often cited as the inventor of the concept of the remix, and so may be seen as a direct antecedent of much dance and electronic music production.

Biography

King Tubby's music career began in the 1950s with the rising popularity of Jamaican sound systems, which were to be found all over Kingston and which were developing into enterprising businesses. As a talented radio repairman, Tubby soon found himself in great demand by most of the major sound systems of Kingston, as the tropical weather of the Caribbean island, (often combined with sabotage by rival sound system owners) led to malfunctions and equipment failure. Tubby owned an electrical repair shop on Drumalie Avenue, Kingston, that fixed televisions and radios. It was here that he built large amplifiers for the local sound systems. In 1961/62 he built his own radio transmitter and briefly ran a pirate radio station playing ska and rhythm and blues which he soon shut down when he heard that the police were looking for the perpetrators. Tubby would eventually form his own sound system, Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi, which became a crowd favourite due to the high quality sound of his equipment, exclusive releases and Tubby's own echo and reverb sound effects, at that point something of a novelty.

Remixes

Tubby began working as a disc cutter for producer Duke Reid in 1968. Reid, one of the major figures in early Jamaican music alongside rival Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, ran Treasure Isle studios, one of Jamaica's first independent production houses, and was a key producer of ska, rocksteady and eventually reggae recordings. Asked to produce instrumental versions of songs for sound system MCs or toasters, Tubby initially worked to remove the vocal tracks with the sliders on Reid's mixing desk, but soon discovered that the various instrumental tracks could be accentuated, reworked and emphasised through the settings on the mixer and primitive early effects units. In time, Tubby (and others) began to create wholly new pieces of music by shifting the emphasis in the instrumentals, adding sounds and removing others and adding various special effects, like echoes, reverb and phase effects. Partly due to the incredible popularity of these early remixes, 1971 saw Tubby's soundsystem consolidate its position as one of the most popular in Kingston and so he decided to open a studio of his own.

Dub music production

King Tubby's production work in the 1970s would see him become one of the best-known celebrities in Jamaica, and would generate interest in his production techniques from producers, sound engineers and musicians across the world. Tubby built on his considerable knowledge of electronics to repair, adapt and design his own studio equipment, which made use of a combination of old devices and new technologies to produce a studio capable of the precise, atmospheric sounds which would become Tubby's trademark. With a variety of effects units connected to his mixer, Tubby was able to 'play' the mixing desk like an instrument, bringing instruments and vocals in and out of the mix (literally 'dubbing' them) to create an entirely new genre known as dub music.

Using existing master tapes—his small studio in fact had no capacity to record session musicians—Tubby would re-tape or 'dub' the original after passing it through his 12 channel custom built MCI mixing desk, twisting the songs into unexpected configurations which highlighted the heavy rhythms of their bass and drum parts with minute snatches of vocals, horns and Piano/Organ. These techniques mirrored the actions of the sound system selectors, who had long used EQ equipment to emphasise certain aspects of particular records, but Tubby was able to use his custom-built studio to take this technique into new areas, often transforming a hit song to the point where it was almost unrecognizable from its original. One unique aspect of his remixes or dubs was the result of creative manipulating of the built-in highpass filter on the MCI mixer he had bought from Dynamic Studios. The filter was controllable by a large knob—aka the 'big knob' -- which allowed Tubby to introduce a dramatic narrowing sweep of any signal, such as the horns, until the sound disappeared into a thin squeal.

Tubby engineered/remixed songs for Jamaica's top producers such as Lee Perry, Bunny Lee, Augustus Pablo and Vivian Jackson that featured artists such as Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Linval Thompson, Horace Andy, Big Joe, Delroy Wilson, Jah Stitch and many others. In 1973, he built a vocal booth at his studio so he could record vocal tracks onto the instrumental tapes brought to him by various producers. This process is known as 'voicing' in Jamaican recording parlance. It is unlikely that a complete discography of Tubby's production work could be created based on the number of labels, artists and producers with whom he worked, and subsequent repressings of these releases sometimes contained contradictory information. His name is credited on hundreds of b-side labels, with the possibility that many others were by his hand yet uncredited, due to similarities with his known work.

By the later part of the decade, though, King Tubby had mostly retired from music, still occasionally mixing dubs and tutoring a new generation of artists, including King Jammy and Scientist. In the 1980s he built a new, larger studio with increased capabilities, and focused on the management of his own labels, Firehouse, Waterhouse and Taurus, which released the work of Anthony Red Rose, Sugar Minott, Conroy Smith, King Everald and other popular musicians. He has been cited numerous times as influential to modern musicians including Animal Collective's Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.

Death

King Tubby was shot and killed on February 6, 1989 by an unknown group of people outside his home in Duhaney Park, upon returning from a session at his Waterhouse studio. It is thought that the murder was probably an attempt at robbery.

Discography

With Augustus Pablo

Ital Dub (Trojan, 1975)

King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (Clock Tower, 1976)

Rockers Meets King Tubby in a Firehouse (1980)

Original Rockers (1979)

With The Aggrovators

Shalom Dub (1975)

Dubbing In The Backyard (1982)

With Prince Jammy

His Majesty's Dub (1975)

First, Second And Third Generation Of Dub (1981, with Scientist)

With Lee "Scratch" Perry

Blackboard Jungle (1973)

King Tubby Meets The Upsetter At the Grass Roots of Dub (1974)

With Bunny Lee

The Roots Of Dub (1974)

Dub From The Roots (Total Sounds, 1974)

Other Collaborations

Yabby You - King Tubby's Prophecy Of Dub (1976)

Harry Mudie - Harry Mudie Meets King Tubby in Dub Conference Vol. 1 (1975)

Niney the Observer - Dubbing with the Observer (Trojan, 1975)

Larry Marshall - King Tubby's Meets Larry Marshall (Java, 1975)

Roots Radics - Dangerous Dub: King Tubby Meets Roots Radics (Copasetic, 1981)

Sly & Robbie - Sly & Robbie Meet King Tubby (Vista Sounds, 1985)

King Tubby the Dubmaster with the Waterhouse Posse (Vista Sounds, 1983)

Compilations

King Tubby & The Aggrovators & Bunny Lee - Bionic Dub 1975-1977

King Tubby & The Aggrovators & Bunny Lee - Straight to I Roy Head 1973-1977

King Tubby & The Aggrovators - Creation Dub 1973-1977

King Tubby & The Aggrovators - Dub Jackpot 1974-1976

King Tubby & The Aggrovators - Dub Gone Crazy 1975-1979

King Tubby & The Aggrovators - Foundation of Dub 1975-1977

King Tubby Meets Scientist in a World of Dub (Burning Sounds, 1996)

King Tubby Meets Scientist at Dub Station (Burning Sounds, 1996)

Glen Brown & King Tubby: Termination Dub 1973-1979 (Blood & Fire, 1996)

See also

References

External links

King Tubby's Discography

Discography of 1970's recordings & dub sources at X Ray Music

BBC Profile

"Dub Echoes", a documentary about dub's influence on the birth of electronic music and hip hop

Jamaican Reggae Legend King Tubby Calendar Raises Money For Red Cross

King Tubby King Tubby King Tubby King Tubby King Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi King Tubby

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	David Issacs
Background	solo_singer
Alias	Bruce Bennett
Born	June 09, 1946
Died	December 2009 (aged 63)
Origin	Denham Town, Kingston, Jamaica
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Reggae
Years active	1960s–2000s
Label	Trojan, Culture Press

David Isaacs (9 June 1946 – c. 21 December 2009) (aka Bruce Bennett) was a Jamaican reggae singer who worked with Lee "Scratch" Perry in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and went on to release several albums between the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

Biography

Isaacs was born in Denham Town in 1946, and was the first of 16 children for his mother. Isaacs recorded a version of Stevie Wonder's "A Place In The Sun" in 1968 for producer Lee Perry, and this was one of the records that established Trojan Records as a major force in reggae. The song was later re-recorded and included in Isaacs' album Place In The Sun, issued in the 1980s.

In 1979, Isaacs recorded "Just Like a Sea", in combination with deejay Jah Thomas, and released his debut album of the same name (also issued as More Love), produced by Witty Reid. In 1982, he teamed up with Winston "Niney" Holness for the album Happy Ending, released on Dynamic Sounds, which had been preceded by the Love & Devotion set.

Isaacs also toured extensively with The Itals, as Lloyd Ricketts was unable to tour. In 1987, upon the nomination of the Itals for the American Grammy Awards, David toured extensively with the Itals line up of Keith Porter and Ronnie Davis. This line-up would continue,for over two decades and the last tour was in 2009, with a cross country tour that ended in the fall. Due to the fact that Lloyd Ricketts was unable to get a visa for all of these years, David supported the three part harmony, and added his own special qualities. The "Itals" also toured without Ronnie Davis often, as Keith Porter, living in the United States did try various line-ups,including his family to perform under the "Itals" name. However, over the course of time, the importance of having David Isaacs and Ronnie Davis tour with the band became knwon by audience response. David Isaacs toured more over the years than Ronnie Davis or of course Lloyd Ricketts because he did work with Keith Porter when Keith Porter was promoting the Itals as his particular line-up which consisted of his daughter and usually included David Isaacs.

Articles in the Gleaner and other places are reporting that David Isaacs along with his great personal acheviements did a "brief stint" with the Itals, however that brief stint was over two decades, and his contributions to the Itals touring group cannot be described as brief.

Isaacs died in December 2009. His sister Beverley found him dead at their Denham Town home on the morning of 21 December.

Discography

Singles

"I'd Rather Be Lonely" (1966), BMN/Island

"See That Man" (1966), BMN/Island

"Place In The Sun" (1968), Upsetter/Trojan

"Give Me Your Love" (1968), Supersonics - Alton Ellis & David Isaacs

"Good Father" (1968), Upsetter

"Can't Take It Anymore" (1969), Upsetter

"Give Love a Try" (1969), Upsetter

"He'll Have To Go" (1969), Upsetter

"I'm Leaving (on a Jet Plane)" (1969), Upsetter

"I've Got Memories" (1969), Upsetter

"Since You are Gone" (1969), Jackpot/Upsetter

"Knock Three Times" (1971), Punch

"Dark Moon"

"Good Father"

"Love Has Joined Us Together" (1971), Jackpot

"Who To Tell"

"You'll Be Sorry" (1971), Upsetter/Punch

"Just Enough" (1973), Upset/Bread

"We Are Neighbors" (1973), Upset/Bread

"Stranger on the Shore" (1973), Justice League/Upsetter

"Breaking Up" (1975), Hulk

"You'll Be Sorry" (1975), Sunshot

"Hard Road to Travel" (1977), Roots From The Yard

"Seems I'm Losing You" (1977), VP

"Think That You're Smart", Roots Rock International

"I Went to Your Wedding" (1978), Ossie Sounds

"Linger Awhile" (1978), Hulk

"Just Like a Sea" (1978). Moodisc

"Just Like A Sea" (1978), Cartridge/Errol T/Steppers (with Jah Thomas)

"Place in the Sun" (1978), Rattie Soul/Jama

"More Love" (1979), Errol T/Cartridge

"More Love", Steppers

"We've Got to Make It", Steppers

"Hush Not a Word to Mary" (1979), Music Cave

"She Loves Me Now" 12" (19??), Striker Lee

"Love Me With All Your Heart" (1979), Bushays - with Trinity

"Sometimes When We Touch", Top Rankin' Muzik

"Jah Love I" (1979), Wild Flower

"What You Gonna Do" (1979), Gorgon

"Brand New Style" (19??), New Star

"Bye My Love" (1981), Express

"Just Like a Sea" (1981), Deep Groove

"Margaret" (1981), Deep Groove

"I'm Gonna Get You", Errol T

"Just Like a Sea" (19??), Rattie Soul

"Sitting and Watching", Carl's

"Words", Carl's

"Someone New Dancing With You", Jackpot

"You've Got to Come Back Home", Lucky Star

Albums

Just Like a Sea (1979), Steppers - also issued as More Love (1979), J&M;

Love & Devotion (1981), Imperial

Happy Ending (1982), Dynamic Sounds

Place In The Sun (1984), Culture Press, also released as Til I Can't Take It on Hulk

To Sir With Love, Jamaica Authentic

References

External links

David Isaacs Official Site

David Isaacs at Roots Archives

David Isaacs at algoriddim

Category:1946 births Category:2009 deaths Category:people from Kingston, Jamaica Category:Jamaican reggae musicians