Lloyd Coxsone is a 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...

n-born sound system operator and record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, who has been resident in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 since 1962.

Biography

Blackford was born in Morant Bay

Morant Bay

Morant Bay is a town in southeastern Jamaica. It is the capital of the parish of St. Thomas. In 1867 it was the starting point of the Morant Bay Rebellion, the only major peasant revolt , in Jamaican history...

, Jamaica, c.1945, and moved to Wandsworth

Wandsworth

Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...

, London in 1962. With his surname borrowed from one of Jamaica's leading sound system operators and producers, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Blackford operated his own Coxsone Sound system in London from 1965 through to the 1980s, gaining a residency in the 1970s at the Roaring Twenties club in Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the Soho district, near Oxford Street and Regent Street. It is home to numerous fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques...

. In the early 1970s he began working as a producer, having success with one of the early lovers rock

Lovers rock

Lovers rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid 1970s.-History:...

 hits, Louisa Mark

Louisa Mark

Louisa Lynthia Mark, also known as 'Markswoman' was a British lovers rock singer best known for her work between the mid-1970s and early 1980s...

's "Caught You in a Lie"; Coxsone is credited with paving the way for lovers rock by incorporating soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 records into his sound system sets. In the mid- and late-1970s he launched his own Safari, Tribesman and Outernational labels. Among his best-known works as a producer are two dub albums released in 1975 and 1982 - King of the Dub Rock and King of the Dub Rock part 2. These mixed his own productions featuring musicians such as Matumbi

Matumbi (band)

Matumbi were one of top British reggae bands of the 1970s and early 1980s, and are best known as the first successful band of guitarist and record producer Dennis Bovell.-History:...

 with rhythms produced in Jamaica by Gussie Clarke

Gussie Clarke

Augustus "Gussie" Clarke , is a reggae producer who worked with some of the top Jamaican reggae artists in the 1970s and later set up his own Music Works studio.-Career:...

, with the second album also featuring mixes by Scientist

Scientist (musician)

Scientist, born Hopeton Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, 1960 , was a protégé of King Tubby , one of the originators of dub music.-Biography:...

. His other productions included the debut single by Levi Roots

Levi Roots

Keith Valentine Graham , better known as Levi Roots, is a British-Jamaican reggae musician, television personality, celebrity chef, businessman and multi-millionaire currently residing in Brixton, South London.-Music:...

. In the mid-1980s, Coxsone took a beack seat with his sound system, allowing younger men such as Blacker Dread to take a leading role. Coxsone went into semi-retirement in the late 1980s, but later returned to the sound system circuit with his Sir Coxsone the Outernational system. He was paid tribute by I Roy on the single "Lloyd Coxsone Time".

Productions

• King of the Dub Rock (1975), Safari
• King of the Dub Rock Part 2 (1982), Tribesman
• 12 the Hard Way (1989), Tribesman