8. Gemini
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.