Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
Producer and singer
BORN MARCH 20, 1936 - DIED AUGUST 29, 2021, AGED 85
CONSIDERED one of the pioneers of reggae and dub, Lee “Scratch” Perry was an innovator, disruptor and rebel whose greatest gift was his ear for sound.
Keith Richards once described the Jamaican artist as “Salvador Dali”.
“He’s a mystery. The world is his instrument,” said the Rolling Stones legend. “He has a gift of not only hearing sounds that come from nowhere else, but also translating those to the musicians.”
Much like Phil Spector’s famed Wall of Sound, Perry layered his music to create a beautiful orchestrated chaos. He leaned towards heavy bass lines, adding rhythms and banal sound effects. Lyrics were the final touch once he was satisfied.
He produced records for Bob Marley and the Wailers from his Black Art Studio in a suburb of Kingston and also worked with Junior Murvin, Max Romeo, The Clash and Beastie Boys.
Exhaustion and a
hedonistic lifestyle took their toll and in 1978 Perry burned down his Black Ark studio after his wife left him.
He moved to Switzerland and quit using substances, although his creativity was never as lucid.
He was born Rainford Hugh Perry in the rural town of Kendal, Jamaica, to Henry Perry and Ina Davis, who were both labourers.
Leaving school at 15, he moved to Hanover, working occasionally in menial jobs.
In the early 60s he moved back to Kingston and worked with Clement Dodd and his Downbeat Sound System. Perry’s work rate was unrivalled and he made more than 80 albums over seven decades.
He died in Jamaica from an unspecified illness. He is survived by his second wife, Mireille Campbell-Ruegg, their two children, plus four from other relationships.