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Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes

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The compelling story of the Chins - the Chinese-Jamaican family behind Studio 17 established above Randy’s Records at 17 North Parade in downtown Kingston. Randy’s Records was founded in the late 1950s by Vincent Chin and his wife Pat, who began by selling used records in a tiny shop. As Jamaican independence approached in 1962, Vincent Chin had the inspired idea of producing a record to capitalise on the excitement of the time. He approached the popular Trinidadian singer Lord Creator and produced Independent Jamaica. Jamaica was in the mood for celebrating its independence, and the song was an instant hit. Creator then went on to record Kingston Town, which became a huge hit for UB40 in the 1980s. The success of Independent Jamaica enabled the Randy’s shop to expand and add a studio of its own, known as Studio 17. Studio 17 was where Vincent Chin and later his son Clive Chin as well as many other legendary Jamaican producers would create new tracks. Throughout the 60s and 70s many of the world’s most famous reggae artists recorded there, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, John Holt, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Carl Malcolm, Jimmy London, Augustus Pablo, Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson and many more. When the Chin family left for New York, some 2,000 original session tapes were left behind at Studio 17. It was believed they were all lost in the flooding and looting that followed Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 that left the studio unusable. However, as part of a major exhibition on Jamaican music at Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project in Seattle, now renamed the Museum of Pop Culture, the tapes were rediscovered and shipped to New York, where they languished for some time in a basement. Tragedy struck in 2011, when Joel Chin, son of Clive Chin and A&R for VP records, was murdered in Kingston, Jamaica. Having encouraged his father to do something with the archive for many years, Clive h

English
  • Originally Aired October 11, 2019
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Network BBC One
  • Created October 12, 2019 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified October 12, 2019 by
    Administrator admin