Freddie McGregor

Freddie McGregor 41 years, to be exact.

Freddie McGregor Good. Luckily for me, I built a recording studio, Big Ship Studio, which lets me make an album whenever I want. No pressure. It also gives us the time to tour, to bring the music to the people.

Freddie McGregor Yes, I was seven. It was in 1963, at Studio One. I lived in the countryside, in Clarendon. Two friends, Ernest Wilson and Pete Austin, who were members of the Clarendonians, took me to Kingston, where I met wonderful people: Bob Marley, Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe, John Holt, Jackie Mittoo, Don Drummond. It was great fun. I imagined that Studio One was like Motown, with Marvin Gaye, Mickael Jackson, The Supremes, all those wonderful people, yuh know? It was like that until I recorded my first song. Ska was giving way to rocksteady. I remember Bob Marley stacked up three crates so I could reach the microphone, because I was too small. I lived in Mister Dodd's house, with his family. Every morning, I went to the studio with him, we opened the studio together, and every evening we closed the studio and went home. It was that kind of relationship. I was a child in the studio all the time. It was inevitable that I would learn so much by going to Studio One... It was a good studio.

Freddie McGregor I left Studio One in 1979, when I worked for the first time with Niney, on the album Mr McGregor. Mr Dodd then released the album Bobby Bobylon the following year, in 1980, which had been recorded years before.

Freddie McGregor We've released a lot of songs on that label, more are coming out this year. As I speak to you, we have new tracks on sale in England. These are things to watch out for...

Freddie McGregor Musically, everything started to be different. You have to pay attention to changes in the market, to what is happening. You have to know when to release an album, whether the timing is right, or whether it's better to tour some more. Because music changes so much, and so quickly. Sometimes, you can release a production, but it arrives at the wrong time, compared with what's going on. You have to take all that into consideration. No artist stays at the top forever. You get noticed, and it's up to you to make it last as long as possible. You have to be logical: it's not about being number 1 every year, for ten or twenty years. New artists appear constantly. You have to leave them room and know how to position yourself so that, when the time comes, you can strike back, like a cobra.

Freddie McGregor Sometimes, when I see people like Santana or the Isley Brothers, they refuse to stop. I grew up listening to the Isley Brothers, since I was seven years old. Those guys have received something like seven Grammys, and they're still recording albums. They have no intention of stopping, and I have the same mentality. Music is all I've known since I was seven. I'm going to keep making albums, every year or every two years, keep producing young artists, keep the shop running. It's a business I love, I chose it. I'll always be in this business.

Freddie McGregor Of course! Whenever a magazine, a newspaper or a radio show appears, with a real project, we respect it a lot. Big respect to the readers who buy these magazines, it's the source for getting the reggae vibes. So stay connected!