5. Saxon Studio International
Saxon Studio International is one of the best known London reggae sound systems (musical ensemble). It is notable for being the first UK sound system to win an international competition. It is also where three artists who went on to achieve UK Top Forty hits first came to prominence. Saxon Studio International began operating in Lewisham, South London in 1976. The sound came to prominence in the early 80s because of the "fast chat" style which was pioneered by its deejay Peter King. Other Saxon MCs included Tippa Irie, Smiley Culture, Asher Senator, Papa Levi, Daddy Colonel, Daddy Rusty and Daddy Sandy, each of whom developed this style and went on to release records, some (such as Smiley and Tippa) achieving Top 40 hits in the UK national chart. Singer Maxi Priest also began his musical career on Saxon. In 1992, Saxon won the UK Cup Clash (a tournament for reggae sound systems). In 1994, Saxon became the first UK sound system to win the World Clash. Saxon continue to play internationally, including an annual outing at London's Notting Hill Carnival. Their style has influenced artists such as Massive Attack (who invited them to play at the 2008 Meltdown festival which they curated) and The Bug (who has collaborated with Tippa Irie and Saxon selector Trevor Sax).
6. King Tubby
King Tubby's (Osbourne Ruddock) music career began in the 1950s with the rising popularity of Jamaican sound systems, which were to be found all over Kingston and which were developing into enterprising businesses. As a talented radio repairman, Tubby soon found himself in great demand by most of the major sound systems of Kingston.
Tubby would eventually form his own sound system, Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi, in 1958. It became a crowd favourite due to the high quality sound of his equipment, exclusive releases and Tubby's own echo and reverb sound effects, at that point something of a novelty. King Tubby's production work in the 1970s made him one of the best-known celebrities in Jamaica, and would generate interest in his production techniques from producers, sound engineers and musicians across the world. Tubby built on his considerable knowledge of electronics to repair, adapt and design his own studio equipment, which made use of a combination of old devices and new technologies to produce a studio capable of the precise, atmospheric sounds which would become Tubby's trademark. With a variety of effects units connected to his mixer, Tubby "played" the mixing desk like an instrument, bringing instruments and vocals in and out of the mix (literally "dubbing" them) to create an entirely new genre known as dub music.
7. King Attorney
This is a sound that went through a fair few changes during its decade or so in existence. Originally it started out as Soul Attorney and was owned by a man named Rupert Brown aka Rupie and its headquarters was located at 18 Avon Park Crescent off the Lyndhurst Road in Kingston 5, Jamaica. Our earliest recordings of the set is during a transitional period late in the year of 1975. U. Roy had been number one deejay on King Tubby’s Home Town Hi Fi for quite some time but when the sound was shot up in St Thomas he needed a new sound to play. Soul Attorney was the sound he chose. With U. Roy (b. Ewart Beckford) controlling things on the microphone, gradually the sounds name changed to became a more regal King Attorney Hi Fi. Towards the end of the year U. Roy went into the Channel One studios and recorded a series of “specials” for King Attorney over classic riddims from the studio. These recordings, known as the lost U. Roy album “Right Time Rockers”, were released on Sound System Records many years later. Moving into 1976 and a new wave of deejays like U.Brown, Dillinger and Nicodemus joined Trevor and Danny combining to make King Attorney one of the top sounds on the island.
In May of 1977 the name was changed to Socialist Roots Hi Fi as the sound was acquired by Milton “Tony” Welch aka “Papa Roots”. During the years 1979 to 1981 they elected to call the sound Papa Roots.
The roots of the Gemini sound system can be traced back to around 1967 when two men Papa Gemini (b. Gerwin Dinnall) and Papa Kenneth started a small disco which mainly catered for the sound of soul music. As with most sounds systems of the day Gemini’s set initially consisted of a single turntable, and theirs was powered by a Dynaco amplifier. Papa Gemini was the main selector in those early days and with reggae gaining in popularity in the seventies the set started to grow in size. In 1974 Archie (b. Archibald Cummings) was recruited as main selector and as Gemini’s rise continued they started to attract some of the top deejays of the day. Welton Irie (b. Welton Dobson) first began deejaying the set around 1978. He then had a short spell with Virgo before returning Gemini and linked up with another deejay Ringo (b. Bradley Miller), who was originally a selector on Soul Express, and their working partnership was crucial to the sounds progress. This was the dawning of the dancehall era and their mixture of reality and slackness lyrics quickly become all the rage. According to Welton Irie, Gemini was one of the very first sounds to cut their own custom made “specials”. In particular he remembers a series of “specials” that ruling deejay Ranking Trevor cut for the sound so they could champion themselves when no entertainers were around.
9. Black Scorpio
Black Scorpio is a Jamaican sound system and record label run by Maurice "Jack Scorpio" Johnson. Johnson had started to operate a single turntable and speaker sound system in 1968 and started the Special I sound system in 1972, changing the name to Black Scorpio. Also known as 'The Horseman Sound' to the close association of Johnson (who owned racehorses) and deejays that worked on the sound system (General Trees and Lord Sassafrass) with horse racing, it rose to become one of the top sounds in Jamaica.
There are two sub-labels of Black Scorpio, Headley Avenue and Junior Scorpio, the latter named for Johnson's late son.
In 2010, Johnson was inducted into the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) Hall of Fame.