Reggae lost one of its greatest figures this week : producer Joe Gibbs died on Thursday 21 February 2008 of a heart attack, aged 65. The founder of the Joe Gibbs label was one of the island's most influential producers of the 1970s.
He began producing in 1967, recording in the back room of his television repair shop with the help of Lee Scratch Perry, who had just left Coxsone Dodd at Studio One. After the Upsetter left to found his own label of the same name, Joe Gibbs took on Winston "Niney" Holness. In the heart of the rocksteady period, they recorded The Pioneers, Lynn Taitt and Errol Dunkley, before moving into reggae with the Heptones, Delroy Wilson, the Ethiopians and Peter Tosh. He also released the first version of Dennis Brown's Money in my pocket.
Teamed with engineer Errol Thompson, they formed a magic pair, the "Mighty Two", as Jamaica then nicknamed them (a duo to which one must add their studio musicians, the Professionals). The greatest artists passed through their hands : Junior Byles, Prince Alla, Gregory Isaacs, John Holt, Cornell Campbell, Prince Far I (the essential "Heavy Manners"), but also Beres Hammond, Dean Fraser, Barrington Levy, Dillinger, I Roy… In 1977, his fame went international with the success of Culture's album "Two Sevens Clash" (for whom he also produced "Baldhead Bridge") and the "African Dub" series.
The 1980s were less glorious. In 1980, Gibbs scored another hit, Someone Loves You Honey by JC Lodge. But the song's author, Charley Pride, never saw a penny in royalties. Sued, and ordered to pay an enormous sum, Joe Gibbs was forced to close up shop, ruined. It was not until 1993 that he resurfaced, reissuing his catalogue on his son's label, Rocky One in Miami. After its branches in New York, São Paulo and Miami, the Joe Gibbs label set up in Europe in 2005 (news of 30/07/2005), combining reissues of the label's classics with discoveries of young artists.