Winston Riley (14 May 1943 – 19 January 2012) was a Jamaican singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

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 ...

. The ''

Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...

'' notes he was one of the most successful

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 ...

producers.Jamaica Gleaner article - accessed August 2008

Biography

Riley was born 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 ...

. He formed the band

The Techniques The Techniques were a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group mainly active in the 1960s. History The group was formed by Winston Riley in 1962 while still at school, with the initial line-up also featuring Slim Smith, Franklyn White, and Frederick Wa ...

in 1962 and recorded material with that group. He formed his own label in 1968 and produced records for several musicians, including

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

and

Hortense Ellis Hortense Ellis (18 April 1941 – 19 October 2000) was a reggae musician, and the younger sister of fellow artist Alton Ellis.Johnny Osbourne Johnny Osbourne (born Errol Osbourne, 1948) is one of the most popular Jamaican reggae and dancehall singers of all time, who rose to success in the late 1970s and mid-1980s. His album '' Truths and Rights'' was a roots reggae success, and featu ...

.Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, p. 317, . Riley's own

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, "

Double Barrel "Double Barrel" is a 1970 reggae single by Dave and Ansell Collins (though credited in both the UK and the U.S. to 'Dave and Ansil Collins'). It was the second reggae tune to top the UK charts, two years after Desmond Dekker's number 1 breakth ...

", performed by

Dave and Ansell Collins Dave and Ansell Collins are a Jamaican vocal/instrumental duo (sometimes billed as Dave and Ansil Collins or Dave and Ansel Collins). History Dave Barker (born David John Crooks, 10 October 1947, Kingston, Jamaica) is a session vocalist, and ...

under his own production, was one of the first international

hits, reaching number 1 in the Dutch and

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 ...

.Black, Roy (2017)
The Music Diaries: Winston Riley’s Contribution To J'can Music Transcended Boundaries
, ''

'', 29 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017 His " Stalag"

riddim Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm". In the context of reggae and dancehall, it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the ...

is the most sampled reggae song of all time. The rhythm was first released in 1973, as the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

Ansell Collins Ansel Collins is a Jamaican musician, composer, singer, songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Dave Barker as Dave and Ansel Collins. Biography Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica,World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

of the same name. It reappeared later as "Stalag 18", "Stalag 19", "Stalag 20" and "Ring the Alarm Quick". Riley produced

General Echo Earl Anthony Robinson (8 December 1955 – 22 November 1980), better known as General Echo, a.k.a. Ranking Slackness, was one of the first reggae deejays to move away from 'cultural' lyrics towards ' slackness' (risqué or sexually explicit lyri ...

's hugely influential album ''The Slackest'' in 1979, and he went on to launch the careers of

Sister Nancy Ophlin Russell (born on 2 January 1962), better known as Sister Nancy (or Muma Nancy), is a Jamaicans, Jamaican dancehall Deejay (Jamaican), DJ and singer. She is known to the world as the first female dancehall DJ and was described as being a ...

Buju Banton Mark Anthony Myrie (born 15 July 1973),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, professionally known by his stage name Buju Banton, is a Jamaican reggae dancehall musician. He is considered to be one of the most ...

Cutty Ranks Philip Thomas (born 12 February 1965), better known as Cutty Ranks, is a Jamaican dancehall singer. Biography Thomas was born in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica in 1965. He began his career as a reggae artist at the age of eleven with local sound s ...

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

and

Frankie Paul Paul Blake (19 October 1965 – 18 May 2017), better known as Frankie Paul, was a Jamaican dancehall reggae artist. Born blind, he has been dubbed by some 'The Jamaican Stevie Wonder'. Biography Born in Jamaica in 1965, Blake was born blind bu ...

. The

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guit ...

recorded Echo's song "Arlene", and have performed many versions of it at their

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

Discography

;Studio albums *Meditation Dub (1977) *Meditation Dub Vol 2 (LP) (1999) *Meditation Dub Vol 3 (LP) (1999) ;Singles & EPs * Sir Lee / Norman Grant / The Revolutionaires / Sonia Pottinger / Dillinger / Winston Riley - Back To The Music / Natty Dub It Into Dreamland / Melting Pot / Ital Rockers / Dub With Natty / Melting Dub (12", EP) (1977) * Ansil Collin* / Winston* & Ansil* - Black Out / Zion I (7", Single) ;Compilations *Quintessential Techniques (2009)

Death

On 1 November 2011, Winston was shot in the head at his home in Kingston. According to police, he had been the subject of several earlier attacks. After being in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

since the shooting, he died on 19 January 2012.Winston Riley is Dead
, ''

Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor i ...

'', 20 January 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-20

References

External links

List of Riley productions
*

br>Interview with the ''Jamaica Gleaner'' newspaper - published 18 May 2008
* ttp://bigblackbarry.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/immortal-technique/ Dylan Powe's memories of Winston Riley. {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Winston 1943 births 2012 deaths Jamaican reggae musicians Jamaican record producers Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Deaths by firearm in Jamaica VP Records artists