Winston Holness, better known as Niney the Observer (born George Boswell, 1951, Montego Bay

Montego Bay

Montego Bay is the capital of St. James Parish and the second largest city in Jamaica by area and the fourth by population .It is a tourist destination with duty free shopping, cruise line terminal and the beaches...

), 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 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...

 and singer who was a key figure in the creation of many classic reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 recordings

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 dating from the 1970s and early 1980s.

Biography

Holness gained his nickname "Niney" after losing a thumb in a workshop accident. In the latter half of the 1960s he worked as an engineer at KG records, where he began producing. His first release was his own composition "Come on Baby" issued on his Destroyer label. He moved on to work with Bunny Lee

Bunny Lee

Edward O'Sullivan Lee, better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee is a prominent, prolific and successful record producer best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...

 in 1967, then for Lynford Anderson

Lynford Anderson

Lynford Anderson aka Andy Capp is a Jamaican studio engineer, producer, and vocalist, best known for his 1968 hit "Pop a Top".-Biography:...

's studio, then working for Joe Gibbs

Joe Gibbs (record producer)

Joe Gibbs born Joel A. Gibson was a Jamaican reggae producer.-Biography:Joe Gibbs worked as an electronics engineer in the United States before his career in music started. Gibbs eventually returned to Kingston, Jamaica and opened an electrical repair shop with television repairs and sales as its...

 as chief sound engineer, replacing his friend Lee "Scratch" Perry. While working for Gibbs he produced Dennis Alcapone

Dennis Alcapone

Dennis Alcapone is a reggae DJ and producer.-Career:Smith initially trained as a welder and worked for the Jamaica Public Services...

 and Lizzy's "Mr. Brown", and played a major role in launching the career of Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown

Dennis Emmanuel Brown was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a sub-genre of reggae...

. After leaving Gibbs' setup, his first major success as a producer was "Blood & Fire" in December 1970, initially released in a pressing of 200 on his Destroyer label, but reissued the following year on his Observer label, and going on to sell over 30,000 copies in Jamaica. Inspired by Perry's nickname of "The Upsetter", Holness adopted "The Observer", using the name for his new Observer label, and the name of his house band, The Observers (actually the Soul Syndicate

Soul Syndicate

Soul Syndicate, originally called the Rhythm Raiders, were one of the top reggae session bands in Jamaica from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.-History:...

). Several singles followed, some reusing the "Blood & Fire" rhythm, including Big Youth

Big Youth

Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....

's "Fire Bunn".

In the early 1970s, Holness became one of Jamaica's most sought after producers, with the likes of Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown

Dennis Emmanuel Brown was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a sub-genre of reggae...

, Delroy Wilson

Delroy Wilson

Delroy Wilson was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer.-Biography:Wilson released his first single "Emy Lou" in 1961 for record producer, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, at the age of thirteen...

, The Heptones

The Heptones

The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were one of the more significant trios of that era, and played a major role in the gradual transition between ska and rocksteady with their three-part harmonies.-History:Leroy Sibbles, Earl...

, Johnny Clarke

Johnny Clarke

Johnny Clarke , Whitfield Town, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae musician.-Biography:Clarke grew up in the Kingston ghetto of Whitfield Town. In 1971 he won a talent contest in Bull Bay, his prize a meeting with producer Clancy Eccles, with whom he recorded his first song, "God Made the Sea and the...

, Slim Smith

Slim Smith

Slim Smith was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book Reggae: The Rough Guide , Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerge in the rocksteady era".-Biography:Smith first came to prominence as a member of the Victors Youth Band, who were highly...

, Jacob Miller

Jacob Miller

Jacob Miller was a Jamaican reggae artist who first recorded with Clement Dodd. While pursuing a prolific solo career, he became the lead singer for reggae group Inner Circle with whom he recorded until his death in a car accident at the age of 27.-Biography:Jacob Miller was born in Mandeville,...

, Junior Delgado

Junior Delgado

Oscar Hibbert , better known as Junior Delgado, was a reggae singer, famed for his roots style.-Biography:...

, and Freddie McGregor

Freddie McGregor

Freddie McGregor has been variously a singer, musician and producer. According to Allmusic he is one of reggae's most durable and soulful singers, with a steady career that started in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old.-Biography:In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to...

 all using his services. He also continued to record himself, on collaborations with Dennis Alcapone, Max Romeo

Max Romeo

Max Romeo is a reggae and roots reggae recording artist who has achieved chart success in his home country, and in the UK. Romeo was responsible for launching an entirely new sub-genre of reggae, whose overtly suggestive lyrics caused an outcry but took a massive hold of the music scene regardless...

, and Lee Perry. By the mid-1970s, he was also working with Ken Boothe

Ken Boothe

Ken Boothe OD is a Jamaican recording artist.-Biography:Ken Boothe was born in the Denham Town area of Kingston in 1948, the youngest of seven children, and began singing in school...

, Junior Byles

Junior Byles

Kerrie Byles is a reggae singer, born July 17, 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica.-The Versatiles:...

, Gregory Isaacs

Gregory Isaacs

Gregory Anthony Isaacs was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in the New York Times, described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae". His nicknames include Cool Ruler and Lonely Lover....

, Horace Andy

Horace Andy

Horace Andy is a roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", "Angel", "Five Man Army" and a cover version of "Ain't No Sunshine"....

, I-Roy

I-Roy

Roy Samuel Reid better known as I-Roy was a Jamaican DJ who had a very prolific career during the 1970s.-Biography:...

, and Dillinger

Dillinger (musician)

Dillinger is a reggae artist.-Biography:As a young man growing up in Kingston, Dillinger would hang around Dennis Alcapone's El Paso sound system...

. The late 1970s saw him still very active as a producer, but his output in the early 1980s was significantly less after relocating to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. He re-emerged in 1982 with the Ital Dub Observer Style album, and returned to Kingston in 1983, taking on the role of house producer for the Hitbound label at Channel One Studios

Channel One Studios

Channel One is a recording studio in Maxfield Avenue, West Kingston, Jamaica. The studio was built by the Hoo Kim brothers in 1972, and has had a profound influence on the development of reggae music....

. In this capacity he was one of the first to work with Beenie Man

Beenie Man

Anthony Moses Davis , better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Grammy award winning Jamaican reggae artist. He is the self-proclaimed "King of the Dancehall".-Biography:...

, and also produced Third World

Third World (band)

Third World is a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1973. Their sound is influenced by soul, funk and disco.-History:Third World started when keyboard player Michael "Ibo" Cooper and guitarist Stephen "Cat" Coore, who had originally played in The Alley Cats then Inner Circle, subsequently left to form...

 and Sugar Minott

Sugar Minott

Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minott was a Jamaican reggae singer, producer and sound-system operator.-Biography:...

. In the mid-1980s, he relocated to New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, returning to Kingston again in 1988, and working with Yami Bolo

Yami Bolo

Yami Bolo is a Jamaican reggae singer and performer.-Biography:Rolando Ephraim McLean, better known as Yami Bolo, is a Jamaican reggae singer, musician, artist, and performer. He was born on October 1, 1970 and grew up in Kingston 13...

, Frankie Paul

Frankie Paul

Paul Blake , better known as Frankie Paul, is one of Jamaica's best-loved and popular dancehall reggae artists. Born blind, he has been dubbed by some 'The Jamaican Stevie Wonder'.-Biography:...

, Andrew Tosh

Andrew Tosh

Andrew Tosh , is a reggae singer and the son of the late Peter Tosh. He is the nephew of reggae singer Bunny Wailer, also an original member of The Wailers...

, and Junior Byles

Junior Byles

Kerrie Byles is a reggae singer, born July 17, 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica.-The Versatiles:...

. He began an association with Heartbeat Records

Heartbeat Records

Heartbeat Records is an independent record label based in Burlington , Massachusetts. The label specializes in Jamaican music. Founded by reggae music enthusiasts Bill Nowlin and Duncan Brown, the label's first release was a vinyl LP reissue of Linton Kwesi Johnson's Dread Beat an' Blood...

, working on reissues of much of his back catalogue, as well as new recordings. He continued to produce new material through the 1990s.

External links

• [ Biography] at Allmusic website
  Website
  A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
  
  
• Niney the Observer interview April 2009
• Article
• United Reggae
• WMC: article