Coxsone Dodd
{{Short description|Jamaican record producer (1932–2004)}}
{{Use Jamaican English|date=January 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2009}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Coxsone Dodd
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|size=100|list=CD}}
| image = Coxsone Dodd.jpg
| caption = Dodd at Studio One, Brooklyn
| image_size =
| birth_name = Clement Seymour Dodd
| alias = Sir Coxsone
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1932|01|26}}
| birth_place = Kingston, Jamaica
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2004|05|04|1932|01|26}}
| death_place = Kingston, Jamaica
| origin =
| instrument =
| genre = {{Hlist|Ska|rocksteady|reggae}}
| occupation = Record producer
| label = {{Hlist|Studio One|Coxsone|Tabernacle}}
}}
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd {{postnominals|list=CD}} (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent as a cricketer (his friends compared him to Alec Coxon, a member of the 1940s Yorkshire County Cricket Club team).When journalist Roger Steffens asked Dodd about the spelling of his name, he asserted that it was "Coxson" without the 'e' found on the spelling of the record label "Coxsone". Steffens referenced this anecdote in The Beat magazine and The Reggae Scrapbook (Insight Editions, San Rafael, CA, 2007), p. 33.
Biography
The Kingston-born Dodd used to play records to the customers in his parents' shop. During a spell in the American South he became familiar with the rhythm and blues music popular there at the time. In 1954, back in Jamaica, he set up the Downbeat Sound System, being the owner of an amplifier, a turntable, and some US records, which he would import from New Orleans and Miami.
With the success of his sound system, and in a competitive environment, Dodd would make trips through the US looking for new tunes to attract the Jamaican public.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|pages=382/3}} While he did, his mother Doris Darlington would run the sound system and play the tunes. Dodd opened five different sound systems, each playing every night. To run his sound systems, Dodd appointed people such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, who was Dodd's right-hand man during his early career, U-Roy and Prince Buster.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/prince-buster-dz9k3hb25|title=Prince Buster|date=10 September 2016|website=The Times|access-date=13 October 2019}} Perry would later leave Dodd in 1966 due to Perry feeling disrespected by Dodd. This is documented in the 1966 song "The Upsetter".
= Recording career =
When the R&B craze ended in the United States, Dodd and his rivals were forced to begin recording their own Jamaican music in order to meet the local demand for new music.
In 1959, he founded a record company called Worldisc. In 1962, he produced the jazz record "I Cover the Waterfront" on the Port-O-Jam label; two of the musicians who played on the album, Roland Alphonso and Don Drummond, became founding members of the Skatalites one year later. In 1963, he opened Studio One on Brentford Road, Kingston. It was the first black-owned recording studio in Jamaica. He held regular Sunday evening auditions in search of new talent, and it was here that Dodd auditioned Bob Marley, singing as a part of the Wailers.
In the early 1960s, Dodd was producing ska hits by Toots and the Maytals, the Gaylads, and the Skatalites.Katz, David. [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/may/06/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries "Obituary: Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd"], TheGuardian.com, 5 May 2004; retrieved 3 December 2016.
Dodd's "You're Wondering Now", was initially recorded in 1964 by Andy & Joey in Jamaica{{cite web |url= https://www.discogs.com/Andy-Joey-Youre-Wondering-Now-Youll-Never/release/4519549| title= Andy & Joey – You're Wondering Now / You'll Never|website=Discogs.com |publisher= Zink Media, Inc. | access-date= 23 February 2018 }} and later covered by the Skatalites, the Specials and Amy Winehouse; it was also used as the theme tune for the British-French crime drama television series Death in Paradise.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, the "Studio One sound" was synonymous with the sound of ska, rocksteady and reggae, and Dodd attracted some of the Jamaican new musicians, including Burning Spear, Ras Michael, Delroy Wilson, Horace Andy, Sound Dimension, and Sugar Minott.{{Cite web|url=https://studioone.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-minott-showcase|title=Sugar Minott Showcase, by Sugar Minott|website=Studioone.bandcamp.com|access-date=13 October 2019}}
In the mid-1980s, Dodd closed his studio and moved his base of operations to New York City.{{cite book|title=The Guinness Who's Who Of Reggae|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Guinness Publishing (UK)|date=1994|isbn=0-85112-734-7|page=75}}
Honours
In 2002 he was awarded a Gold Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica.{{cite web|url=http://instituteofjamaica.org.jm/musgrave-awards|title=Musgrave Awardees|publisher=Institute of Jamaica|access-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141018165642/http://instituteofjamaica.org.jm/musgrave-awards|archive-date=18 October 2014}}
Last years and death
He continued to be active in the music industry into his seventies, and on 1 May 2004, Kingston's Brentford Road was renamed Studio One Boulevard in a ceremony which paid tribute to his accomplishments as a producer. He died suddenly of a heart attack three days later, aged 72, while working at Studio One.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/arts/06DODD.html|title=Coxsone Dodd, 72, Pioneer of the Jamaican Pop Music Scene, Dies|author=Kelefah Sannah|date=6 May 2004|work=New York Times}} He was survived by his wife, Norma, who passed in 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/NORMA-DODD-WAS-a-pillar-of-strength-to-Studio-One|website=jamaicaobserver.com|title=NORMA DODD WAS a pillar of strength to Studio One|access-date=6 September 2017}}
Dodd was posthumously awarded the Order of Distinction, in the rank of Commander on 15 October 2007, for service to the Jamaica music industry.{{cite web|url=http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/123-governor-general/13240-ggpages-hundreds-turn-out-for-national-awards-ceremony|title=Hundreds Turn out for National Awards Ceremony|publisher=Jamaica Information Service|date=15 October 2007|access-date=31 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319154903/http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/123-governor-general/13240-ggpages-hundreds-turn-out-for-national-awards-ceremony|archive-date=19 March 2012}}
See also
{{Portal|Biography}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Coxsone}}
Category:Jamaican record producers
Category:Jamaican sound systems
Category:Jamaican reggae musicians
Category:Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica