Henry Lawes (producer)

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Henry "Junjo" Lawes (born around 1948 in Kingston , Jamaica , † June 14, 1999 in London , England ) was a Jamaican music producer . He was one of the most successful early dancehall producers .

Live and act

Initially, Henry Lawes tried to start a musical career as a singer, including with the trio Grooving Locks . He started working as a music producer in 1978 when Linval Thompson , who was producing his own recordings at the time, asked Lawes if he would like to assist him as a production assistant on his album I Love Marijuana .

Lawes benefited from the experience he gained and the following year he entered the Channel One studio as the producer of Barrington Levy, newly discovered and at the beginning of his career . Lawes produced several successful singles with him in 1979, first in quick succession , and then his debut album Bounty Hunter . The record was a huge success, making Barrington Levy a star in Jamaica and Lawes one of the hippest producers on the island. In retrospect, Bounty Hunter is often referred to as the foundation of dancehall, and it is certainly one of the very first dancehall albums.

Lawes did not have a studio of his own later either and in the following period usually produced for Channel One . He had already worked with Barrington Levy on these first recordings with a crew that included the Roots Radics as an instrumental band, who accompanied the singer with rough, rugged riddims , and at the beginning also with Scientist as a sound engineer, who worked with his innovative Style soon developed into one of the important dub mixers of the early dancehall era. With this regular line-up and changing singers, the early dancehall was shaped and dominated for a few years. On the wave of success with Barrington Levy, Lawes founded his own music labels Volcano and Arrival , whose records were distributed via Greensleeves Records , among others . Lawes subsequently worked with numerous musicians who volunteered to be produced by him. Among them were the Wailing Souls , whose 1980 song Fire House Rock and the album of the same name became reggae classics and further consolidated Lawe's reputation as a producer. Lawes then produced a number of hits in the early 1980s with Yellowman , Jamaica's most popular deejay at the time .

Many of the recordings produced by Lawes were versions of classic Studio One pieces that were adapted to the musical development of the time and re-recorded by the Roots Radics or the High Times Band , Lawes second group of studio musicians. Lawes took a similar approach when working with a number of veteran singers whose songs were modernized for dancehall, including Johnny Osbourne , John Holt , Don Carlos from Black Uhuru , Hugh Mundell , Alton Ellis , Junior Murvin , Leroy Smart and others Ken Boothe .

Some of Jamaica's greatest hits of the early 1980s were created, alongside the successes of Yellowman, Lawes produced, for example, Wa Do Dem by Eek-a-Mouse , Johnny Osbournes Ice Cream Love , John Holts Police In Helicopter , Barrington Levy's Prison Oval Rock , Diseases of Michigan & Smiley , Dancehall Style by Little John , Michael Prophets Gunman and Pass the Tu-Sheng-Peng , with which the young Frankie Paul made his breakthrough. As a result Lawes produced more hits with Frankie Paul with which he made a name for himself in dancehall. Another musician career, in the beginning of which Lawes played a significant role, was that of Cocoa Tea , with whom he produced Rocking Dolly , among other things . Lawes also exerted further formative influences with the "invention" of the Clash albums, on which two singers compete for a soundclash , or with the Volcano Hi Power sound system, founded in 1983 , which with good technical equipment and original dubplates quickly becomes one of the leading sounds in Jamaica developed.

In 1985 Lawes moved to New York , where he came into conflict with the law and spent several years in prison. When he was released from prison and returned to Jamaica in 1991, musical development had long overtaken him; dancehall had radically changed with the advent of pieces based entirely on digital sounds. Lawes nevertheless continued to work with old friends like Cocoa Tea and Yellowman, and tried it with younger artists like Ninjaman and Shaka Shamba , but he could no longer build on the great successes of the early 1980s. Lawes finally left Jamaica and moved to London . On June 14, 1999, Henry “Junjo” Lawes was shot dead by two strangers in Harlesden, London, the case could not be solved by the police.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Allmusic-Guide, see under web links. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  2. ^ Rainer Bratfisch, Reggae-Lexikon , 1999, ISBN 3-89602-207-5
  3. ↑ http://www.laut.de/lautwerk/dancehall/index.htm items Dancehall at laut.de . Retrieved June 20, 2009.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lawes, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lawes, Junjo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jamaican music producer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingston , Jamaica
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1999
Place of death London