King Stitt
Encyclopedia
King Stitt, born Winston Spark (b. 17 September 1940 in Kingston
, Jamaica
), is a Jamaican DJ.
's Sir Coxsone's Downbeat Sound System in 1956 or 1957, influenced by American
DJs heard on radio broadcasts from Miami and New Orleans. Count Machuki, the original Jamaican deejay, noticed him for his dancing and offered him to try his hand on the mic. Born with a facial malformation, King Stitt took advantage of it and called himself The Ugly One, in reference to the Sergio Leone
western
movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
His first record releases came from producer Clancy Eccles with classic deejay tracks like "Fire Corner", "Lee Van Cleef", "Herbman Shuffle", "Vigorton 2", and "Dance Beat". Upon the success of these releases, Sir Coxsone began to release his own recordings of Stitt on now scarce 7" singles. A full album was released by Coxsone entitled Dancehall '63 in the late 90's of Stitt deejaying over old-school rhythms like Owen Grey's "On the Beach". A full CD of hard to find 7" singles called Reggae Fire Beat was released on Jamaican Gold CD label.
King Stitt can be seen selecting & deejaying on the Soul Jazz DVD documentary of STUDIO ONE called The Studio One Story. Also, King Stitt was seen as recently as 2002's Legends of Ska concert series in Toronto
, where he selected and deejayed before, after, and between sets. A documentary of the Legends of Ska concert series was made but not yet released.
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
), is a Jamaican DJ.
Biography
King Stitt is the oldest living Jamaican deejay. Sparkes was given the nickname Stitt as a boy and decided to use it as his stage name, becoming King Stitt when he was crowned 'king of the deejays'. He began deejaying on Coxsone DoddCoxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, CD was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond...
's Sir Coxsone's Downbeat Sound System in 1956 or 1957, influenced by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
DJs heard on radio broadcasts from Miami and New Orleans. Count Machuki, the original Jamaican deejay, noticed him for his dancing and offered him to try his hand on the mic. Born with a facial malformation, King Stitt took advantage of it and called himself The Ugly One, in reference to the Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
His first record releases came from producer Clancy Eccles with classic deejay tracks like "Fire Corner", "Lee Van Cleef", "Herbman Shuffle", "Vigorton 2", and "Dance Beat". Upon the success of these releases, Sir Coxsone began to release his own recordings of Stitt on now scarce 7" singles. A full album was released by Coxsone entitled Dancehall '63 in the late 90's of Stitt deejaying over old-school rhythms like Owen Grey's "On the Beach". A full CD of hard to find 7" singles called Reggae Fire Beat was released on Jamaican Gold CD label.
King Stitt can be seen selecting & deejaying on the Soul Jazz DVD documentary of STUDIO ONE called The Studio One Story. Also, King Stitt was seen as recently as 2002's Legends of Ska concert series in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, where he selected and deejayed before, after, and between sets. A documentary of the Legends of Ska concert series was made but not yet released.
Albums
- Fire Corner - 1969 - Trojan RecordsTrojan RecordsTrojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...
- Dance Hall '63 - Studio One (1993)
- Reggae Fire Beat - 1969-1970 - Jamaican GoldJamaican GoldJamaican Gold is an independent record label from Netherlands specialized in Jamaican music reissues.Aad Van Der Hoek founded the label in 1992 and has since been working closely with Jamaican producers and sound engineers, transferring usually the music directly from the original mastertape in...
(1996)