Joseph Hoo Kim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Channel One label

Joseph 'Jo Jo' Hoo Kim (1942?-) is a Jamaican reggae record producer.

Born in a Chinese Jamaican family, Joseph Hoo Kim, the oldest of four brothers (Ernest, Paul and Kenneth), were involved during the 1960s in the jukebox and slot machine business. In 1970, after the Jamaican government declared the gambling games illegal, Joseph and Ernest decided to turn on to the music business and launched a sound-system named Channel One. In 1972 impressed by the Dynamic Sound studio of producer Bunny Lee, Joseph decided to set up the Channel One Studios on Maxfield Avenue (West Kingston). Syd Bucknor became the first sound engineer working on a four tracks machine, replaced one year after by Joseph's brother Ernest, by this time they also had their own pressing plant and label-printing workshop. To get experience, Hoo Kim decided to give every volunteer producer a free try. Though they produced some strong records (Don' t Give Up the Fight by Stranger & Gladdy their first production, I Dig You, Baby by Alton Ellis , Leroy Smart's Blackman...), it was not before the mid-1970s that they gained success.

With his house band created in 1975, The Revolutionaries (featuring Sly and Robbie), the variations in rhythm brought by a harder beat led to the roots-heavy sound soon to be called "rockers". Their biggest commercial success "Right Time" by The Mighty Diamonds was released in 1975, but many other big names came to record in the studio; Leroy Smart, Delroy Wilson, Black Uhuru, Horace Andy, John Holt, Junior Byles, The Wailing Souls, Dillinger to name a few. They created many labels (Well Charge, Channel One, Hitbound), and Greensleeves Records, Island Records and Virgin Records have all published their productions at one time or another. Hoo Kim was the first producer to introduce the re-use of old Studio One rhythms for new productions, a very controversial practice at the beginning, that finally became widespread. In 1976, he brought out the first mix combining versions sung and DJ on a same single with Truly by The Jays and Ranking Trevor, a standard for the dancehall culture in the 80s. This record was also the first Jamaican 12-inch single. Due to a depression after his brothers Paul was shot to death during a robbery in 1977, Joseph Hookim's productions became less numerous. He then left the island to escape the violence and set up in New York. In 1979, he renovated his Jamaican studio and started to go back there every month to supervise new productions. With Ernest, he opened a sub-studio in NY in the early 1980s from where many DJs recorded; Barrington Levy, Barry Brown...In the early 1980s, he launched the "Showdown series" with "clash" albums where the two faces of the LP separate two DJs.. When the dancehall entered the digital era, he withdrew from the Jamaican music business, shut down both studios and relocated to New York.

He is currently operating a pressing plant in Brooklyn, New York.

[edit] Discography

  • Various Artists - 1983 - General For All General: Dance Hall Style - Hitbound
  • Various Artists - 1984 - Hypocrite Inna Dance Hall Style - Hitbound
  • Various Artists - 1984 - Sly & Robbie Presents The Unmetered Taxi - Channel One
  • Various Artists - Special Request To All Bad Boys - Hitbound
  • Various Artists - Special Request To All Lovers Boys & Girls - Hitbound
  • Various Artists - 1976-1979 - Hit Bound: The Revolutionary Sound Of Channel One - Heartbeat Records (1989)
  • Various Artists - 1974-1978 - Channel One Well Charged - Pressure Sounds (1997)
  • Various Artists - When The Dances Were Changing (Hitbound Selection) - Pressure Sounds (1998)
  • Various Artists - Channel One Story (Reggae Anthology) - VP Records (2004)

[edit] References

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../j/o/s/Joseph_Hoo_Kim_ca24.html"
In other languages