Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent as a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er (his friends compared him to

Alec Coxon Alexander Coxon (18 January 1916 – 22 January 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire. He also played one Test match for England in 1948. Life and career Coxon was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. World War II delayed Coxon's ...

, a member of the 1940s

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...

team).

Biography

The Kingston-born Dodd used to play records to the customers in his parents' shop. During a spell in the American South he became familiar with the

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

music popular there at the time. In 1954, back in Jamaica, he set up the Downbeat Sound System, being the owner of an

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost t ...

, a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, and some US records, which he would import from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. With the success of his sound system, and in a competitive environment, Dodd would make trips through the US looking for new tunes to attract the Jamaican public. While he did, his mother

Doris Darlington Doris Albertha Darlington (died 25 June 1998) was a Jamaican Maroon who owned a food shop and later a liquor store in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1950s and 1960s. This site provided the initial space for her son Coxsone Dodd to begin playing music ...

would run the sound system and play the tunes. Dodd opened five different sound systems, each playing every night. To run his sound systems, Dodd appointed people such as

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...

, who was Dodd's right-hand man during his early career,

U-Roy Ewart Beckford OD (21 September 1942 – 17 February 2021), known by the stage name U-Roy, was a Jamaican vocalist and pioneer of toasting.Jo-Ann GreeneU-Roy Biography, AllMusic. Retrieved 11 April 2013. U-Roy was known for a melodic style ...

and Prince Buster. Perry would later leave Dodd in 1966 due to Perry feeling disrespected by Dodd, this is documented in the 1966 song ''The Upsetter''.

Recording career

When the R&B craze ended in the United States, Dodd and his rivals were forced to begin recording their own Jamaican music in order to meet the local demand for new music. In 1959, he founded a record company called Worldisc. In 1962, he produced the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

record "

I Cover the Waterfront ''I Cover the Waterfront'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by James Cruze and starring Ben Lyon, Claudette Colbert, Ernest Torrence, and Hobart Cavanaugh. Based on the book, by Max Miller, a reporter for the San Die ...

" on the Port-O-Jam label, two of the musicians who played on the album,

Roland Alphonso Roland Alphonso OD or Rolando Alphonso "The Chief Musician" (12 January 1931 – 20 November 1998)Thompson, p. 262 was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist, and one of the founding members of the Skatalites. Biography Born in Havana, Cuba, Alphonso ...

and

Don Drummond Don Drummond (12 March 1932Cane-Honeysett, L: ''Don Drummond Memorial Album'', liner notes. Trojan 2009. – 6 May 1969) was a Jamaican ska trombonist and composer. He was one of the original members of The Skatalites, and composed many ...

became founding members of the

Skatalites The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many oth ...

one year later. In 1963, he opened Studio One on Brentford Road, Kingston. It was the first black-owned recording studio in Jamaica. He held regular Sunday evening auditions in search of new talent, and it was here that Dodd auditioned

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

, singing as a part of

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 ...

. In the early 1960s, Dodd was producing

hits by

Toots and the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

the Gaylads The Gaylads are a Jamaican vocal group. They were one of the top rocksteady vocal groups active in Jamaica between 1963 and 1973. History The group, formed in Kingston, originally consisted of singers Harris "B.B." Seaton, Winston Delano S ...

, and

the Skatalites The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many othe ...

.Katz, David
"Obituary: Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd"
TheGuardian.com, 5 May 2004; retrieved 3 December 2016. Dodd's "You're Wondering Now", was initially recorded in 1964 by Andy & Joey in Jamaica and later covered by

The Skatalites The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many othe ...

The Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval ...

and

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

; it was also used as the theme tune for the British-French crime drama television series '' Death in Paradise''. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the "Studio One sound" was synonymous with the sound of

, rocksteady and

, and Dodd attracted some of the Jamaican new musicians, including

Burning Spear Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots ...

Ras Michael Michael George Henry OD (born 1943), better known as Ras Michael, is a Jamaican reggae singer and Nyabinghi specialist. He also performs under the name of Dadawah. Biography Henry was born in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, where he was raised in ...

, Delroy Wilson, Horace Andy, Sound Dimension, and

Sugar Minott Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minott (25 May 1956 – 10 July 2010)Campbell, Howard (2010)Reggae singer Sugar Minott dies at 54, Associated Press, 11 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010Peru, Yasmine (2010)Godfather of Dancehall, Sugar Minott, dead at ...

Honours

In 2002 he was awarded a Gold

Musgrave Medal The Musgrave Medal is an annual award by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of achievement in art, science, and literature.Webster, Valerie J. (2000), ''Awards, Honors & Prizes, Volume 2'', Gale Group, , p. 447. Originally conceived in 1889 a ...

by the

Institute of Jamaica The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation:music industry into his seventies, and on 1 May 2004, Kingston's Brentford Road was renamed Studio One Boulevard in a ceremony which paid tribute to his accomplishments as a producer. He died suddenly of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

three days later, aged 72, while working at Studio One. He was survived by his wife, Norma, who passed in 2010. Dodd was posthumously awarded the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') ...

, in the rank of Commander on 15 October 2007, for service to the Jamaica music industry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Coxsone 1932 births 2004 deaths Jamaican record producers Jamaican sound systems Jamaican reggae musicians Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Commanders of the Order of Distinction Recipients of the Musgrave Medal

Biography

Recording career

Honours

See also

References

External links