Chris Blackwell
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Chris Blackwell (born June 22, 1937) is the founder of Island Records. Born in London to an Irish father and a Costa Rican-born Sephardic Jewish mother, Blackwell spent his childhood in Jamaica. He was sent to England to continue his education. Deciding not to go to university, he returned to Jamaica to become ADC to the Governor of Jamaica Sir Hugh Foot. After Sir Hugh Foot was transferred to Cyprus he left Kings House and dabbled in real estate and other businesses which brought him into contact with the Jamaican music community. He formed Island Records in 1959 and was one of the first to record Jamaican popular music that became known as ska music. In 1962 he went back to England and sold records out of the back of his car to the UK's black Jamaican population.
From this beginning, Blackwell progressed to bringing in licenced master tapes and one of these contained a performance of Millie Small who he brought over to England at 15 years of age and produced "My Boy Lollipop" in 1964 which sold 6 million records worldwide and that started Island Records on the road in mainstream popular music. He started signing white groups to the label, starting with The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve Winwood. Island became one of the most successful independent labels of the 1960s and 1970s with bands like Traffic, Spooky Tooth, Fairport Convention, King Crimson, Free, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Sparks and Emerson Lake and Palmer. Island Records was also the first home for Chrysalis Records and Virgin Records and the American Label Sue Records who produced Jimmy McGriff, The Soul Sisters and Ike and Tina Turner. Eventually Island moved into movies and released in England The Harder They Come featuring Jimmy Cliff. This film, produced and directed by fellow Jamaican Perry Henzell, was the spark that brought reggae music to the world. Blackwell's real coup however lay in bringing Bob Marley and the Wailers to international audiences. Blackwell also formed Mango Records that featured Jamaican and other artists from the third world. This label introduced Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Third World, Salif Keita, Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo and many others.
Each of his companies was eventually sold to Polygram, and are as of 1998 part of the Universal Music Group conglomerate, but Blackwell left with a reputation for looking after artists as diverse as Bob Marley, U2, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones, Steve Winwood, Melissa Etheridge, Tom Waits, The Cranberries, Richard Thompson and PJ Harvey.
Since selling those companies, he has gone on to found Palm Pictures, a media entertainment company with music, film and DVD releases.
Blackwell is currently associated with Island Outpost, which operates or markets a group of high-end resorts in Jamaica and the Bahamas. Goldeneye, the previous home of Ian Fleming where he wrote all the James Bond books is among the most exclusive of these resorts. Blackwell is currently concentrating on developing this property into a community of villas and beach cottages each with their own private access to the sea.
[edit] Bibliography
- Baugh, Edward (1998). Chancellor, I Present. Mona: Canoe Press.
- Bradley, Lloyd (2001). This is Reggae Music. London: Grove.
- Childs, Peter and Mike Storry, eds. (1999). Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture. London: Routledge.
- (2001). "Chris Blackwell." Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
