Alexander Minto Hughes (2 May 1945 – 13 March 1998), better known as Judge Dread, was an English
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 ...
and
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 ...
musician. He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica,
and the BBC has
banned more of his songs than those of any other recording artist, because of his frequent use of sexual innuendo and
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
s.
Following his death, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' reported, "He sold several million albums throughout his 25-plus year career and was second only to Bob Marley in U.K. reggae sales during the 1970s".
Early life
Hughes was born on 2 May 1945. He was introduced to Jamaican music when he lodged as a teenager in a
West Indian
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...
household in
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
,
South West London.
Hughes, a heavy set man, met Jamaican artists
Derrick Morgan and
Prince Buster through his job as a
bouncer
A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...
at London nightclubs such as the Ram Jam in Brixton, and through another job as a bodyguard.
After working as a professional wrestler (under the name "The Masked Executioner") and as a debt collector for
Trojan Records
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck t ...
, he worked as a DJ on local radio.
In the 1960s he was also sometimes employed to provide security to
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
.
Music career
When
Prince Buster had a big underground hit in 1969 with "Big 5", Hughes capitalized on it with the recording of his own "
Big Six", based on Verne & Son's "Little Boy Blue", which was picked up by Trojan boss
Lee Gopthal, and released on Trojan's 'Big Shot' record label under the stage name Judge Dread, the name taken from another of Prince Buster's songs.
According to UK newspaper ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', this came about after he played the track to Trojan Records' production team in 1972: one of the team, Joe Sinclair, later recalled: "When Dread brought in his demo, we didn't exactly think it was a national hit but we reckoned we could pick up something around the region of 70,000 sales with the help of a change of title. You see, the Judge called it 'Little Boy Blue', whereas I thought 'Big Six' would create interest by making the association with Prince Buster's 'Big Five' more obvious. It sold 300,000 copies and spent 27 weeks in the British charts. In 1973, it even made No 1 in Africa."
"Big Six" reached No. 11 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in 1972, selling over 300,000 copies and spending six months on the
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
, despite getting no
radio airplay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
due to its
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
.
Further
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
s followed with "Big Seven" (co-written by
Rupie Edwards
Rupert Lloyd Edwards (born 4 July 1945) is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.
Biography
Rupie Edwards was born in Goshen, in Saint Ann Parish.Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 103–105 The fam ...
) and "Big Eight" – both following the pattern of lewd versions of
nursery rhyme
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
From t ...
s over a reggae backing – as well as "Y Viva Suspenders" and "Up with the Cock".
He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
in Jamaica, leading him to travel to Jamaica to perform live, where many were surprised that he was white.
Dread had 11 UK chart hits in the 1970s, which was more than any other reggae artist (including
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 ...
).
The ''
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' credited Judge Dread for having the highest number (eleven) of
banned songs of all time.
Several of his songs mentioned
Snodland
Snodland is a town in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. It lies on the River Medway, between Rochester and Maidstone, and from central London. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 10,211.
History
"Snoddingland" ...
, the small town in Kent where Judge Dread lived, including "The Belle of Snodland Town".
There is a road in the town of Snodland named after him, Alex Hughes Close.
Judge Dread was also a songwriter, coming to the attention of
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
, who had planned to record "A Child's Prayer" as a Christmas gift to his daughter
Lisa Marie in 1977, but died before the scheduled recording date.
Dread helped organize a benefit concert featuring
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 ...
and
Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...
and released a benefit single titled "Molly". Despite its lack of innuendo in the lyrics, the track was still banned from radio airplay, and failed to chart.
Recordings Dread issued under the pseudonyms JD Alex and Jason Sinclair were banned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
Judge Dread died from a heart attack as he walked off stage after performing at The Penny Theatre in
on 13 March 1998.
'' his last reported words were: "Let's hear it for the band!" When he collapsed, the audience at first thought that this was part of the act. An off-duty paramedic in the crowd realised that it wasn't and attempted resuscitation; shortly afterwards Dread was taken to the
where he was pronounced dead.
Writing in ''The Independent'' following Dread's death, Pierre Perrone noted: "His stage act, mixing vaudeville, music hall, single entendres and damn-right cheek was undoubtedly a major influence on
, who used to end Bad Manners' shows by baring his huge buttocks, a very Judge Dread move indeed".