Clive Chin (born 14 May 1954 in
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
) is a son of
Vincent "Randy" Chin
Vincent "Randy" Chin (3 October 1937, Kingston, Jamaica – 2 February 2003, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States) was a Jamaican record producer and label owner who ran the Randy's shop, recording studio, and record label, later moving ...
. He is a
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
Chinese Jamaican
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
whose work includes recordings by
The Wailers
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
,
Dennis Brown
Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of l ...
,
Lee Perry and
Black Uhuru
Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru ( Swahili for 'freedom'). The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful per ...
, among others. Chin was a pioneer in the establishment of
dub as a standalone musical form.
Biography
He began working at
Randy's Record Store, his father's business and began helping make the associated studio,
Randy's Studio 17, one of the most important Jamaican studios of the early 1970s.
Chin's first major commercial success was ''
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
'', an international hit by
Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby (21 June 1953 – 18 May 1999),Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 200-202 known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and a multi-instrumentalist, active f ...
. He had further local hits with Dennis Brown's "Cheater" and
Junior Byles
Kenneth Byles (born 2 February 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica), also known as "Junior Byles", "Chubby", or "King Chubby", is a Jamaican reggae singer.Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books,
Biography
The Versatiles
Nam ...
' "King of Babylon" and produced Pablo's debut album, ''
This Is Augustus Pablo''.
[Larkin, Colin: "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", 1999, Virgin Books, ] Chin produced the ''Java Java Dub'' album in 1973, which he claims was the first ever dub album. Further local hits followed with
Carl Malcolm
Carl Malcolm (born July 18, 1946, Black River, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer and percussionist.
Biography
Malcolm initially learned the keyboard, picking up skills on the instrument at his local Methodist church.Larkin, C ...
's "Miss Wire Waist" and "Fattie Bum Bum", which, with the help of
Jonathan King
Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...
, became a
UK chart hit in 1975, reaching #8.
After his family business moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Chin spent some fifteen years running a Jamaican restaurant in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. He began producing again in 1998.
In 2007
VP Records
VP Records is an independent Caribbean-owned record label in Queens, New York (state), New York. The label is known for releasing music by notable artists in reggae, dancehall and Soca music, soca. VP Records has offices in New York City, Miami ...
started an imprint ''17 North Parade'' to reissue some of the historic Randy's releases.
[
]
References
External links
''The story of Randy's'' videoDiscography at Discogs
Jamaican record producers
Jamaican people of Chinese descent
American people of Chinese descent
African-American people
Jamaican reggae musicians
Living people
People from Kingston, Jamaica
1954 births
Hakka musicians
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