Reggae is the 10th most listened to genre of music worldwide and dancehall its coming of age protege continues to be one of the most influential genres of music worldwide.
The magic of the music industry is in making great songs but neither reggae nor dancehall would have been in the global music conversations six decades later had it not been for the record label CEOs who took songs and artists from the streets, to the studio and onto the Billboard charts. Here is a list of the Top 7 Reggae-Dancehall impresarios and CEOs who have been the backbone of the industry.
1. Chris Blackwell
Bob Marley is the most popular reggae artist and the man largely responsible for the marketing and promotion of brand Bob Marley and his music is Chris Blackwell. The compilation album Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley & The Wailers remains the No. 1 reggae album on the Billboard charts going more than 146 weeks. The album has been streamed more than 3.5 billion times in the US alone according to the latest 2022 data obtained by World Music Views from our correspondence at Billboard’s Sales Tracker Luminate.
He has worked with some of the biggest acts in music and laid the foundation fo reggae’s success. With over 60 years in the music industry, The Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer has the lion’s share of reggae having signed and developed U2, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens, Millie Small, Grace Jones, Roxy Music, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Bob Marley and has sold more than 300 million albums.
The Music Business Worldwide A&R Icon awardee is widely acknowledged as the best at developing artists into long term brands, Bono called him, “an adventurer, an entrepreneur, a buccaneer, a visionary and a gentleman” and Grace Jones said he “knows how to get the very best out of people… he’s a mover and a shaker and a mischief-maker”.
David Geffen says, “I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this award than Chris. What he did for the music world and reggae in particular is astounding. He is a pioneer.”
Richard Branson with whom Blackwell has had a long business relationship told MBW that: “Chris Blackwell had a profound influence on the music industry [and] helped develop some of the most legendary artists of our time. He challenged the music industry, and his contributions to it are immeasurable. To my lifelong dear friend – well done!”
2. Robert Livingston
Robert Livingston is the CEO of Scikron Entertainment, home of Big Yard Studios where Shaggy developed his illustrious music career. As an artist and music manager Robert brought Super Cat to Columbia Records where he co-produced the classic dancehall album Don Dadda. That album has sold 357,000 units in the US which includes 85 million streams. “We both produced the album, and I did a lot of work on the album,” Robert told WMV.
Other than Dem Nuh Worry We and Dolly My Baby, which got international attention, Don Dada also spawns political songs like “Them No Care,” and “Fight Fi Power,” and Robert was tasked with finding a foot for Cat amidst a sea of emerging hip hop acts.
“I kinda watched what was going on in the market and how the urban market was gravitating to the dancehall market. We did the collaboration with heavy D, and a lot of fusion was happening at the time, the whole reggae vibe in New York City was getting attention from the key DJ’s. The energy was good,” he recalls.
It helped that Super Cat offered the market something unique which could not be cultivated in the streets of New York.
“Super cat had this unique sound and style and was gaining respect, marketing wise I got the American urban market to respect him,” he states. “Super Cat fit the urban crossover, the song with Sugar Ray crossed the top 40. For me I was blessed to have that knowledge and that understanding,” Robert says.
After his split with Super Cat, the music mogul managed Shaggy’s career into multi-platinum and global super stardom status. With Gold and Platinum certifications under his belt for Boombastic, Robert executive produced Hot Shot, Shaggy’s 5th studio album and the most successful album by a dancehall artist to date. The album has sold 8.8 million units in the U.S. according to the latest data supplied to WMV by Luminate. This includes 6.8 million pure copies along with 1.2 billion on-demand streams.
Under his belt is over 20 million records sold worldwide.
3. Clifton ‘Specialist’ Dillion
Dillion is to dancehall what Blackwell was to reggae. The Montego Bay native produced Shabba’a back to back Grammy winning albums X-tra Naked and Raw As Ever which have both been certified Gold in the U.S. for selling 679K and 522K respectively. He brought Patra, Diana King Maxi Priest and OMI to fame and in the process selling more than 18 million records and a Billboard No. 1 song Cheerleader. Other songs under his belt that helped with dancehall’s recognition globally include Patra’s ‘Worker Man’ and Mad Cobra’s Gold selling single ‘Flex’ which paved the way for for the ‘hardcore lova’ marketing that was used by many artist like Gyptian, Koshens, and Dexta Daps for years to come. He also produced Eddie Murphy’s ‘I Was A King’ and Buju Banton’s ‘Boom Bye Bye’ which caused Shabba Ranks to fall from grace. Still Dillion is widely credited as the man who brought dancehall to the international market with a special kind of fusion.
4. Pat and Randy Chin
Other than Island Records, no other label has championed the cause of reggae and dancehall like VP records. With their slogan “Miles Ahead In Reggae Music,” the company she and her now deceased husband built, boasts the biggest reggae catalogue, consisting of music from almost every notable reggae and dancehall artists over the last 40 years including superstars such as Sean Paul, Shaggy, Beenie Man, Dennis Brown, Gyptian, Beres hammond and hundreds of other artists.
Randy and Patt Chin started their independent label in Kingston, Jamaica and grew it to become the first point of entry for most of the reggae and dancehall artists.
DJ Kool Herc, the founder of Hip Hop describes Miss Patt as: “What Berry Gordy was to Motown Records, what Russell Simmonds was to Def Jam Recordings, what Sylvia Robinson was to Sugar Hill Records, what Clive Davis was to Arista Records Patricia Chin is to the Reggae Industry and VP Records.”
As a teenager in the early 1950s, Vincent Randy Chin oversaw the stocking and maintenance of jukeboxes in the island’s bars for Syrian-Jamaican businessman Isaac Issa, but Randy had bigger visions than stacking Jukeboxes.
Miss Patt told WMV how she got into the music business:
“My husband, God bless his soul wherever he is, he use to work with the Jukebox company and then changed the old records from the Jukebox, we didn’t have reggae music at that time, just American R&B, Percy Sledge, Jim Reeves, Sam Cooke, those type of music and when he changed out those old records, we bought them out from the company and then we start to sell those old Jukebox records down East Street about 70 years ago. Jukebox on a whole was a way of entertainment in the bars, restaurants, the clubs, and a little corner store. People would go and punch a 25 cents, a 10 cents and get five records and that was a form of entertainment for them.”
She also said she didn’t know reggae music was going to be a lucrative business when she started but says the risk was worth the reward because Jamaicans love to sing. “We just did it as an experiment and it developed and make money,” the 84 year old told WMV.
5. Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd
Dodd, now deceased started out using American R&B records on his sound system and became the first black owner of a record label in Jamaica; Studio One in 1963. As one of foundation music impresarios in Jamaica, he held auditions and championed the early careers of Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Alton Ellis, Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley and more.
Dodd’s in house band “Soul Dimensions,” created a unique reggae sound with the riddim “Real Rock” that has been sampled and influence many hip hop and dancehall billboard chart toppers including KRS1, Koffee, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Snoop Lion, The Clash, Kabaka Pyramid, UB40 and more.
6. Donovan Germain
Donovan Germain is the founder of Penthouse Records, one of the most successful record labels in Jamaica. He has produced hit songs for artists such as Buju Banton, City Ranks, Mad Cobra, Tony Rebel, Wayne Wonder, Beres Hammond and more. Penthouse was home to many of the dancehall artists who emerged in in Kingston in the 80s & 90s. It was the place where Dave Kelly honed his skills as a producer to define the sound of the era.
Before Penthouse, Germain ran the Revolutionary Sounds label which was a New York Reggae label in the 1980s.
Germain told WMV that Penthouse was and continues to be the place where inner city boys with talent can come to develop their skills as an artist knowing that the output will be of a high quality.
Penthouse Records, now at 6 Ballater Avenue Kingston has its own pressing facility and an online store with over 400 albums on catalogue. Classic compilations from the Penthouse studios include dancehall riddims such as Dickie (1992) which has Banton’s song of the same name as well as Operation Ardent (1992) which spawns Tony Rebel Creator and Banton’s titled track.
Germain has been awarded the Institute Of Jamaica’s Silver Musgrave Medal as well as the Order Of Distinction for his contributed to Jamaica’s music Development.
7. Romeich Major
Romeich Major ushered in the new era of reggae and dancehall entrepreneurs who use modern means of achieving success in the music business. He is the CEO of Romeich Entertainment, a talent management and event planning company in Jamaica. In the last 5 years he has charted an unconventional route to breaking Shenseea in the US market and offloading her to Interscope records. The fashion designer and street promotions marketer used the power of social media and his affinity to create a spectacle to generate a loyal fanbase for his artists. His strength as a music entrepreneur has been to snag major corporate endorsements for his acts and securing major shows and concerts.
His most successful artist Shenseea told WMV that, “Romeich is like a hero to me. Hero. I came from nothing, and if someone can see you and invest so much in you and work so hard and keep pushing and pushing he’s like a hero to me.”
Under the guidance and marketing assistance of Romeich, Shenseea broke records over the past 2 years at her own pace as her debut album Alpha led the charge as the most streamed project by a dancehall artist released in 2022. The Interscope/Rich Immigrants set was released on March 11 and has so far earned 60,000 equivalent album units (SEA,TEA) according data provided to World Music Views by Billboard sales tracker Luminate.
Alpha sold 4,900 units total from sales and streaming in the United States in its first week of release, according to data provided to World Music Views Luminate. This included 800 copies in pure album sales.
Her first single from the album “Blessed” featuring Tyga was certified Gold in Canada for selling 40,000 units in that country.
Speaking about that achievement to World Music Views Shenseea says, “Thank you to God, my shenyengz and my team. I am blessed.”
Romeich has worked with several other top Jamaican artists such Ding Dong, Tarrus Riley, Teejay and more recently he has been behind the continued success of Apple Music top charting act Valiant.
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