Lee Scratch Perry Musician, inventor of reggae Date of Birth: 20.03.1936 Country: USA

1. Biography of Lee Scratch Perry
2. Socio-cultural Context
3. Early Life and Entry into the Music Industry
4. Spaghetti Westerns

Biography of Lee Scratch Perry

Lee "Scratch" Perry is a Jamaican musician and producer who is considered one of the key figures in the reggae genre. His innovative experiments with music led to the development of the fully-fledged dub style. He has worked with numerous renowned artists, including Bob Marley and Max Romeo.

Socio-cultural Context

In the late 1960s, Jamaica started releasing "versions" on the flip side of 45rpm records. This decision was made by music producers who believed it was not profitable to release two songs on one record. These versions were instrumental renditions of the single. People would choose a song by pressing a button on the front panel of the jukebox using a coin, hence the term "single." To listen to these records at home, special adapters were required, which also served as brushes for cleaning the discs. Eventually, producers like King Tubby invited DJs (now known as MCs) to speak or rap over the rhythm, giving birth to the subgenre "toasting," which later evolved into rap. Dub emerged from experimentation with these versions. The genre emphasizes the drum and bass parts and makes the mixing desk a musical instrument. In the studios, two- and four-channel tape recorders were used, allowing instruments to be recorded separately. Sound engineers could then enrich each instrument with additional effects like echo or reverb, as well as add or subtract voices or instruments. Often, the vocals were replaced with independent instrumental guitar or brass parts on the flip side of the record. King Tubby and Lee "Scratch" Perry were pioneers of this approach in music.

Early Life and Entry into the Music Industry

Rainford Hugh Perry was born in the village of Kendal in Hanover Parish, Jamaica. He grew up in a poor family, with his father working as a road builder and his mother as a field laborer. Perry studied until the fourth grade in school. He learned to play dominoes in the yards, where he said he "learned to read people's minds and understand what they were thinking." Perry did not enjoy physical labor, but he excelled at construction and tractor work. It was during a road construction job in Negril, on the western side of Jamaica, that he had a life-changing experience. Caught in a heavy rainstorm, Perry realized that the sound of stones hitting each other was like percussion, and the sound of the wind was like drumming on cymbals. This experience led him to become involved in the music industry: "Music taught me the stones."

At the age of 23 in 1959, Perry saved up enough money to buy a suit and a bicycle and traveled to Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. He found work at Studio One with producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd as a jack-of-all-trades, eventually becoming a talent scout and a selector, responsible for choosing music for dances. During the dances, other people played the records, and Perry helped the security guards protect the sound equipment from rival gangs hired by Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd's competitor. Perry recorded his first song, "Old For New," in 1963, but his first hit came in 1965 with the single "Chicken Scratch," which gave him his nickname. After seven years of working at Studio One, Perry left due to what he believed was inadequate pay and recognition.

He quickly found a new position with Joe Gibbs, where he recorded "I Am The Upsetter," a song that criticized his former boss's greed and promoted Perry himself. At the time, financial injustice was a characteristic feature of the Jamaican music industry, and Perry, as a truth-teller, gained many fans among both listeners and musicians who wanted to record with him instead of Coxsone Dodd. It is said that "I Am The Upsetter" was one of the first disrespect songs, a characteristic element of rap culture.

Gibbs hired Perry to assemble bands and define their sound for the Amalgamated label. The key result was the 1968 single "Long Shot" by The Pioneers, which introduced a new unnamed rhythm to the world. A year later, Perry gave the song a new incarnation with the hit "People Funny Boy." Supported by his other recordings with a similar rhythm, this song is considered the progenitor of reggae music. This marked a new era for Scratch, but more so because this time he sang about Gibbs' greed, and as a result, Perry found himself without work again.

Seeking a new direction, Perry turned to the church, where he was baptized and listened to its power. He decided to pursue religious music and leave ska and rocksteady to others. It was during this time that he developed what would become known as "reggae."

Spaghetti Westerns

Perry realized that it was better to work for himself. With ten years of experience as a talent scout, he gathered the best musicians under his wing and founded his own label called The Upsetter. Perry explained the name as a wordplay: "This word has two sides. 'Upset' also means 'elevate,' and the other meaning of the word is 'overthrow.' When I sing that I am the Upsetter, I am overthrowing my enemies and elevating those who are with me."

The hot midday sun in Kingston forced the musicians to seek shelter in movie theaters, where they found inspiration in the popular spaghetti westerns of the time. These were Western films produced in the southern part of Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" with Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in the lead roles is considered the best Western in the history of cinema. This marked the beginning of the spaghetti western's popularity, with Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" being the highlight. All these elements, from the film titles to the actors and their characters, found their reflection in Jamaican music at the time.

Perry and The Upsetters would return to the studio after watching the films and incorporate their experiences into the music. In the absence of a vocalist, the dominant instrument in their improvisations was the electric organ. It was from these experiences that singles with burning titles like "Kill Them All," "Return of Django," "Vampire," and others emerged. Their musical inspiration came from soul records imported from the United States.

The original lineup of The Upsetters eventually joined one of the most successful groups, Toots & The Maytals, whose song was the first to use the word "reggae." The two albums they recorded introduced Jamaica to the fact that Perry was a new, independent, growing force.

When the composition "Return of Django" entered the UK charts, Perry quickly assembled a new lineup of The Upsetters to turn their success into money. He hired the musicians from The Hippy Boys, with young Max Romeo as the lead vocalist and Aston and Carlton Barrett on bass. The Barrett brothers would later achieve fame with Bob Marley.

The Upsetters became the first Jamaican reggae group to perform outside their native island. They caused a sensation in the UK. When Perry returned home, he claimed the majority of the profits, which greatly disappointed the other musicians. However, no one ever wrote hits like "I'm The Upsetter" or "People Funny Boy."

In 1974, Perry founded the Black Ark studio, where he worked with Max Romeo, Junior Murvin, The Heptones, and The Congos. In 1977, he collaborated with The Clash. Since 1988, he has lived in Switzerland.

In 2020, Perry participated in the creation of the album "Aquarium in Dub."

In March 2022, a crowdfunding project was launched to work on the Russian Album, consisting of Lee Perry's songs dedicated to Russia, which were recorded during the "Aquarium in Dub" album in 2020.