Lee Perry is one of the most famous Jamaican musicians. Over a long creative career, he realized himself not only as a musician, but also as a producer.
A key figure in the reggae genre, he worked with such outstanding singers as Bob Marley and Max Romeo. He constantly experimented with the sound of his music. Incidentally, Lee Perry was one of the first to develop the dub style.
Dub is a musical genre that developed in the early 70s of the last century in Jamaica. The first tracks were somewhat reminiscent of reggae with removed (sometimes partially) vocals. Since the mid-70s, dub has become an independent phenomenon, considered an experimental and psychedelic variety of reggae.
Childhood and youth years of Lee Perry
The artist's real name is Rainford Hugh Perry. The Jamaican musician and producer was born on March 20, 1936. He comes from the small village of Kendal.
He was brought up in a large family. Lee Perry always considered poverty to be the biggest downside of his childhood. The head of the family barely made ends meet. He worked as a road builder. His mother tried to devote as much time to her children as possible. She worked part-time as a harvester on local plantations. By the way, the woman was paid pennies, and was loaded with physical work as much as possible.
Lee Perry, like all the guys, attended secondary school. He graduated from only 4 classes, and then went to work. The guy tried to support the family, because he understood how difficult it was for parents.
For some time he worked as a laborer. Around this period of time, another hobby appeared in his life. He "hung" on music and dancing. Perry actually danced a lot. The young man even came up with his own step. He realized that he was special. The guy began to dream about building a creative career.
The creative path and music of Lee Perry
He set himself the goal of earning money in order to purchase a decent suit and vehicle. The money I earned was enough to buy a bike. On it, Lee Perry went to the capital of Jamaica.
Upon arrival in the city, he managed to get a job in one of the recording studios. At first, he performed various assignments. Lee Perry was responsible for the safety of the musical equipment, the search for artists and the selection of tracks to accompany the choreographic numbers.
During this period of time, he releases his first solo track. Following this, another piece of music is released, which significantly increases the popularity of the artist. We are talking about the song Chicken Scratch. Then he began to sign and perform under the creative pseudonym Scratch.
He took up creative work closely after he left his employer. Surprisingly, in a short period of time, he became a key face of the capital of Jamaica.
At the sunset of the 60s of the last century, the premiere of the composition Long Shot took place. Lee Perry became the pioneer of the "incomprehensible style", in which religious motifs were ideally mixed and transformed into the reggae style.
Soon there was a wave of misunderstanding between him and representatives of the recording studio. The proceedings escalated into the termination of the contract and the loss of the lion's share of Lee Perry's copyrighted works.
Founding of The Upsetters
The musician made the right conclusions. He realized that it was more logical and more profitable to work independently. During this period of time, he founded his own musical project. The brainchild of the musician was called The Upsetters.
The guys of the band drew inspiration from westerns, as well as musical works in the style of soul. Some time later, as part of Toots & The Maytals, the musicians recorded a couple of LPs. By the way, the works of the guys were saturated with reggae at its best. Gradually, the Lee Perry group gained popularity around the world. This made it possible to start large-scale tours.
Founding of the recording studio Black Ark
In the early 70s, Lee Perry took up the construction of the Black Ark studio. The minus of the studio was that it could not boast of cool musical equipment. But, there were also pluses. They consisted in innovative sound production technologies.
Lee Perry's recording studio has often hosted world-class stars. For example, Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, the cult band The Clash recorded in it.
Experiments with sound have been made since the pioneering musician of the dub musical style. The recording studio worked for several years and, in the truest sense of the word, burned to the ground.
Lee Perry said that he personally burned the premises to get rid of evil spirits. But some sources report that the fire broke out against the backdrop of poor wiring, and the artist did not want to restore the studio due to pressure from local bandits.
Then he went to the US and the UK. At the end of the 90s, he settled in Switzerland. Here he began to lead a more moderate lifestyle. The man finally reduced the use of alcoholic beverages and illegal drugs. This allowed us to create even more and better. In 2003, Jamaican ET became the best reggae compilation. He received a Grammy.
After 10 years, he will compose a piece of music for the popular computer game GTA 5. A few years later, the musician presented a documentary in which the key points related to his creative biography are considered in detail
Lee Perry: details of his personal life
Even before gaining popularity, he married a girl named Ruby Williams. The youth union did not result in a serious relationship. When Lee Perry moved to the capital of Jamaica, the couple broke up.
For some time he was in a relationship with a charming girl named Pauline Morrison. She was younger than the man by more than 10 years, but the partners were not embarrassed by the big age difference. At the time of meeting she was 14 years old, and she was expecting a second child. Lee Perry raised the children of this girl as his own.
He further began a relationship with Mirei. By the way, four children were born in this union. He adored his heirs. Lee Perry motivated children to follow in his footsteps.
The musician was a peculiar person. He was superstitious. For example, he cast incomprehensible spells so that the musical equipment would last as long as possible, blew smoke on the records while mixing collections, sprayed various liquids, and blew the room with candles and incense.
In 2015, another Lee Perry studio caught fire as a result of careless handling of fire. The musician forgot to put out the candle before leaving.
Death of an artist
He passed away at the end of August 2021. He died in one of the cities of Jamaica. The cause of death was not specified.
