Perry Lee

In the late 1960s, Jamaica began delivering “versions” to the world on the reverse side of the “forty-five” records. The music producers decided that it wasn’t profitable for the business to release two songs on the same disc and began to put on the back the instrumental version of the single.

" Forty-five " (45rpm - 45 rpm) - the speed at which automatic machines in drinking establishments usually worked from an abandoned coin. People chose a song and pressed a key on the front panel. One coin - one song (from the English single - “one”), therefore the records were made in the format “minion” (17.5 cm) and, unlike the gramophone ones, had a large hole of 38.24 mm. To listen to such records at home, players needed special adapters, which also served as a brush for wiping discs.

When the songs became hits, their versions were included in discotheques so that people would sing hits themselves. Later, producers like King Tabby invited DJs (today they are called MC ) to speak over the rhythm of any advertising or sharp-social recitative. As a result, this practice resulted in the sub-genre “Tousnig” (from the English toast - “healthy toast”) , which turned into rap outside of Jamaica.

Dub arose from experiments with these "versions." The genre brings the drums and bass parts to the forefront and makes the mixing console one of the musical instruments of the composition. Then in the studios they used two- and four-channel tape recorders, which made it possible to record instruments not in bulk, but separately. Thanks to this, sound engineers could enrich each instrument with additional effects, such as echoes or reverbs, as well as add and subtract voices or instruments . Often on the back of the record, the voice was replaced by an independent instrumental part of a guitar or wind instrument. The pioneers of this approach in music were two people: King Tabby and Lee “Scratch” Perry .

Early years

Rainford Hugh Perry was born in the Kendal village of Hanover County . The boy grew up in a poor family: his father built roads, and his mother cleaned reed in the field. He studied at school until the 4th grade, and on the streets he gained a reputation as a smart and cunning young man. In the courtyards, he learned to play dominoes, where, as he himself said: "learned to read people's minds and understand what is on their mind."

Perry did not like physical labor, but best of all he was given construction and work with a tractor. When he paved the way in the west of Jamaica, in the town of Negrill, he fell under a downpour and for Rainford it was a decisive day.

“If I had not gone there, I would not have become a leading sound engineer. I heard that breaking stones are percussion, and the wind is the sound of blows on musical plates, and it’s also rain ... When the stones beat against each other, I hear thunder, I hear lightning flashes. That's how I got involved in the music industry: stones taught me music. ” ^[one]

So, being a tractor driver, Perry realized that his calling was music.

Entry into the music industry

In 1959, the young man turned 23 years old, he saved up money for a suit, a bicycle and went to Kingston - the capital of Jamaica ^{[2] [3]} . There, he got a job at Studio One with producer Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd as a jack of all trades, where he soon re-qualified as a talent seeker, as well as a selector, that is, he selected music for dancing. During the discos themselves, the discs were put on by other people and Perry helped the guard protect the sound equipment from the attempts of local bandits hired by Coxon Dodd's rival, Duke Reid , whose discos were no less famous and were called Trojan .

The first song - Old For New , Lee recorded in 1963, but the first hit was the 1965 single - Chicken Scratch , which gave the artist a pseudonym. After seven years at Studio One, Perry left Coxon because he thought he was not getting the proper salary and recognition.

The search was short-lived - Lee simply crossed the road and got to Joe Gibbs , where he recorded I Am The Upsetter - a song in which he exposed the greed of the former boss and advertised himself so that people would make the “right choice”. At that time, financial injustice was a characteristic feature of the Jamaican music industry, and so Perry, as a "truth-seeker," immediately had a lot of fans both among listeners and among musicians who now wanted to record not with Coxon Dodd, but at Joe Gibbs studio. They say that I Am The Upsetter is one of the first songs in the disrespect subgenre (from English “disrespect”) - so characteristic of rap culture.

Gibbs hired Perry to formulate and sound the musicians for Amalgamated Records . The key result was the 1968 single, The Pioneers Long Shot , which gave the world a new, still unnamed rhythm. A year later, Perry gave the song a new incarnation in the form of the hit People Funny Boy. Backed up by his other recordings with a similar rhythm, the song is considered the founder of reggae music. So, for Scratch a new time came, but rather because this time Perry was already singing about Gibbs's greed and so Lee was left without work again.

“I got a lot of songs that I wrote. They didn’t even give a name! They liked the lyrics and the music, but they didn’t want me to sing for them. Therefore, I needed to find something special ... I went to the church, where I was baptized and listened to its strength - it was then that the strings of my soul began to play. I myself decided to practice religious music, and leave ska and rock steeds to others. What I did and began to be called "reggae" ^[1] .

Spaghetti Westerns

Perry decided it was better to work for himself. Ten years of experience as a talent seeker allowed Lee to gather the best musicians under his wing and establish his own label - both were called The Upsetter (from the English upset - “upset”, “overturn”, “disturb order”, “disturb peace”). Perry himself explained the name The Upsetter - a pun:

“This word has two sides. “Resent” also means “exalt” (Eng. Up set - “put on a step higher”), another meaning of the word includes “overthrow”. When I sing that I am a Rebel, I overthrow the enemies and exalt those who are with me ” ^[1] .

Kingston’s hot half-days forced the musicians to hide from the sun, and they spent time in movie theaters, where they were inspired by the popular spaghetti westerns in Jamaica. This is a subgenre of Westerns filmed in southern Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. It is the spaghetti western Sergio Leone "Good, Bad, Evil" with Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in the lead roles that is considered the best western in the history of cinema. The era of popularity of this subgenre was opened by the "Dollar Trilogy" of the specified director. All of the above - from the names of the films to the actors and their characters - were also reflected in the Jamaican music of that time.

Perry and The Outrages returned to the studio, where they got into the music they experienced while watching the films. In the absence of the singer, the leading instrument in their improvisation was an electric organ. It was from these impressions that singles appeared, with burning names like - Kill Them All, Return Of Django, Vampire and others. They drew musical inspiration from the soul records that came to Jamaica from the United States of America.

The first line-up of The Upsetters joined the ranks of one of the most successful groups - Toots & The Maytals , in the song of which the word “reggae” sounded for the first time. Two albums that they managed to record, made Jamaica understand that Perry is a new, independent, growing, great power.

When Return Of Django hit the UK charts, Perry quickly put together a new Outrage to turn money into success. He hired the musicians of the band The Hippy Boys , whose lead was the young Max Romeo , and the bass, the brothers Aston and Carlton Barrett , who would soon become famous along with the works of Bob Marley .

Perry's “outrage” became the first Jamaican reggae band to perform outside their home island. In the UK they became a sensation. Returning home, Perry appropriated most of the profits. This was very upsetting for everyone, but no one wrote hits like I'm The Upsetter or People Funny Boy .

In 1974 he founded the studio Black Ark , where he worked with Max Romeo, Junior Mervyn, The Heptones , The Congos. In 1977, he collaborated with The Clash . Since 1988 lives in Switzerland.

The fact that Perry was born on March 20, 1936 is not exactly known. So, some sources report on March 19, 1940 ^[4] . Nevertheless, the 20th is official because Perry himself spoke about it ^[5] . In addition, he gives annual concerts in honor of his birthday at this time. However, for example, in 2010 he celebrated his 75th birthday, which suggests that his year of birth is 1935, not 36. At the same time, some say that he was born in 1939.

If we talk about the place of his birth, then it is also not known. At least there are three options: Kendal (Kendal), Hanover (Hanover), Westmorland (Westmorland). Officially, Kendal-Perry himself writes about this on his websites, using, however, a biography taken from the Internet. In the song “I'm Crazy” (I'm a Madman) from the album “Battle Of Armageddon - Millioner Liquidator” (1986), Perry mentions Hanover as his birthplace. Several Internet sources report about Westmorland ^{[6] [7]} , but most likely he just worked there, as well as in a place called Negrille. As someone once said: "No one knows where he was born and how old the Outrage."

If Perry studied at school until the 4th grade and left it at the age of fifteen, then he began to study only at 12.

In his youth, Perry danced a lot and often visited dance halls (dancehalls) - local discos. They say he even invented his own dance step there. In addition, in the studio of the Black Ark, checking the resulting music for the presence of the vibrations he needed, Perry danced, becoming at the right moments in certain poses known to him that answered the question he needed so much about having a pious sound. Perhaps the love of dancing was transmitted to him from his father, who, for some time, was a dancer ^{[8] [9]} .

To his first musical memories, Perry includes listening to records in the style of boogie-woogie (he mentioned the record of Louis Jordan (Louis Jordan)), yank (Yank) and jazz ^[10] .

His favorite clothes were khaki, and the materials were denim, velveteen, cotton and silk ^[11] .

Albums

• The Upsetter (1969)
• Return of Django (1969)
• Clint Eastwood Rides Again (1970)
• Many Moods of the Upsetters (1970)
• Scratch the Upsetter Again (1970)
• The Good, the Bad and the Upsetters (1970)
• Eastwood Rides Again (1970)
• Africa's Blood (1972)
• Cloak and Dagger (1973)
• Rhythm Shower (1973)
• Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle aka Blackboard Jungle Dub (1973)

The era of the Black Ark (1973-1979)

• Double Seven (1974)
• DIP Presents the Upsetter (1975)
• Musical Bones (1975)
• Return of Wax (1975)
• Kung Fu Meets the Dragon aka Heart of the Dragon (1975)
• Revolution Dub (1975)
• Super Ape aka Scratch the Super Ape (1976)
• Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread (1978)
• Return of the Super Ape (1978)

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• The Return of Pipecock Jackxon (1980)
• Mystic Miracle Star (with the Majestics) (1982)
• History, Mystery & Prophecy (1984)
• Battle Of Armagideon (Millionaire Liquidator) (1986)
• Time Boom X De Devil Dead (with Dub Syndicate ) (1987)
• On the Wire (1988)
• Satan Kicked the Bucket (with Bullwackie) (1988)
• Chicken Scratch (1989)
• Mystic Warrior (1989)
• Mystic Warrior Dub (with Mad Professor ) (1989)
• From The Secret Laboratory (with Dub Syndicate ) (1990)
• Message From Yard (with Bullwackie) (1990)
• Satan's Dub (with Bullwackie) (1990)
• Lord God Muzik (1991)
• Sounds From The Hotline (1991)
• The Upsetter and The Beat (1992)
• Excaliburman (1992)
• Spiritual Healing (1994)
• Black Ark Experryments (with Mad Professor ) (1995)
• Experryments at the Grass Roots of Dub (with Mad Professor ) (1995)
• Super Ape Inna Jungle (with Mad Professor ) (1995)
• Who Put The Voodoo Pon Reggae (with Mad Professor ) (1996)
• Dub Take the Voodoo Out of Reggae ( Mad Professor with Lee Perry) (1996)
• Dub Fire (with Mad Professor ) (1998)
• The Original Super Ape (1998)
• Son of Thunder (2000)
• Songs to Bring Back the Ark (2000)
• Techno Party (2000)
• Jamaican ET (2002)
• Earthman Skanking (2003)
• Encore (2003)
• Alien Starman (2003)
• Panic in Babylon (2004)
• Alive, more than ever (2006)
• End of an American Dream (2007)
• The Mighty Upsetter (2008)
• Repentance (2008)
• Scratch Came Scratch Saw Scratch Conquered (2008)
• Dub Setter (with Adrian Sherwood ) (2009)
• Mad Alien Dub (2010)
• The Unfinished Masterpiece (2010)
• Revelation (2010)
• Rise Again (2011)
• The Observer In The Star House (2012)

Compilation

• Chicken Scratch (produced by Coxsone Dodd ) (1963–1966)
• Reggae Greats: Lee "Scratch" Perry (1984)
• Open The Gate (1989)
• Upsetter Collection (1994)
• Upsetters A Go Go (1995)
• Introducing Lee Perry (1996)
• Words Of My Mouth Vol. 1 (The Producer Series) (1996)
• Voodooism (Pressure Sounds) (1996)
• Arkology (1997)
• The Upsetter Shop Vol. 1: Upsetter In Dub (1997)
• Dry Acid (1998)
• Lee Perry Arkive (1998)
• Produced and Directed By The Upsetter (Pressure Sounds) (1998)
• Lost Treasures of The Ark (1999)
• Upsetter Shop Vol.2 1969-1973 (1999)
• Words Of My Mouth Vol. 2 (The Producer Series) (1999)
• Words Of My Mouth Vol. 3 (Live As One / The Producer Series) (2000)
• Scratch Walking (2001)
• Black Ark In Dub (2002)
• Divine Madness ... Definitely (Pressure Sounds) (2002)
• Dub Triptych (2000)
• Trojan Upsetter Box Set (2002)
• This is Ska and Reggae Roots (2005)
• The Upsetter Selection - A Lee Perry Jukebox (2007)

• Lee Scratch Perry Biography