Winston Cooper (c.1929–1995), better known as Count Matchuki or Count Machuki, was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

deejay A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

Biography

Cooper was born c.1929 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 ...

,Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rocksteady, and Dancehall'', Greenwood Press, , p. 70-71 and began working on

sound systems In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

in the 1950s, when the music played was largely American R&B. His stage name of Count Matchuki derived from his habit of chewing matchsticks. He initially worked on Tom Wong's '' Tom the Great Sebastian'' system and later the ''Tokyo the Monarch'' system, before moving on to

Clement "Coxsone" Dodd Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent a ...

's ''Downbeat'' Sound System.Katz, David (2003) ''Solid Foundation: an Oral History of Reggae'', Bloomsbury, , p. 10Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) ''The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.'', Rough Guides, , p. 17, 123 He added talkovers to the songs, emulating the

jive talk Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive or simply Jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip is an African-American Vernacular English slang or vocabulary that developed in Harlem, where "ji ...

of American radio DJ's at the request of Dodd, who became familiar with the US style on his visits to the States to buy records to play on his sound system.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , p. 186-187 He thus originated a

style that was later developed by artists such as

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 ...

.Greenberg, Adam " Count Machuki Biography, ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'', Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 4 October 2009 Matchuki started by adding spoken introductions to the records that were played, taking inspiration from the American magazine ''Jive''. In the late 1950s, the prevailing sound changed with the advent 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 Matchuki added his deejay skills (often uncredited) to several records 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 ...

. He introduced

King Stitt Winston Sparkes (17 September 1940 – 31 January 2012), better known as King Stitt, was a Jamaican pioneer DJ. Biography He earned the nickname as a boy because of his stuttering and decided to use it as his stage name. Stitt began deejaying ...

to Dodd's sound system, and Stitt took over as lead deejay when Matchuki left to join

Prince Buster Cecil Bustamente Campbell (24 May 1938 – 8 September 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary ...

's ''Voice of the People'' system. In the late 1960s, with little financial reward or recognition for his work, he left the music industry. He appeared in the ''Deep Roots Music'' documentary in the late 1970s along with

Sir Lord Comic Sir Lord Comic is one of the original Jamaican deejays. Biography His career began as a dancer with the ''Admiral Dean'' sound system.Larkin, Colin:"The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", 1998, Virgin Books, In the late 1950s, following the lea ...

. U-Roy has cited Matchuki as a major influence on his work. He said of Matchuki, "Count Matchukie, well he was a man I used to love to listen to. Whenever you been listening to this man, it was like you never hear anybody like that before. This man phrases his words in time, he doesn't crowd the music when he's talking. You can always hear what the vocalist got to sing. I used to say, I'd like to be like this man." Winston "Count Matchuki" Cooper died in 1995. He is survived by his daughter Carla Cooper.Glowing tributes for late 'King Stitt' - Jamaica Observer - 27 February 2012
. Retrieved 23 April 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matchuki, Count 1995 deaths Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican ska musicians Year of birth uncertain