Herman Chin Loy
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Herman Chin Loy is a Jamaican record producer, best known for his productions from the late 1960s and early 1970s of artists such as Augustus Pablo, Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis and Bruce Ruffin, and for the Aquarius and Scorpio labels that he ran.
[edit] Biography
After working at his cousin Leslie Kong's Beverley's record shop, Chin Loy opened up his own Aquarius Record Store in 1969 in Half Way Tree, Kingston, and began working as a producer.[1] His earliest productions were quirky, innovative instrumentals, using musicians such as Lloyd Charmers and The Hippy Boys on tracks such as "African Zulu", "Shang I",[1] "Reggae In The Fields", "Invasion", and "Inner Space".[2] He was the first producer to use the Now Generation band and the first to record Horace Swaby, whose recordings, like those of other keyboard players who recorded for Chin Loy, were released under the name Augustus Pablo, the success of Swaby's releases causing the name to stick.
In the early 1970s, Chin Loy also produced Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis, and Bruce Ruffin, whose "Rain" reached #19 in the UK singles chart.[1] Chin Loy was responsible for one of the first dub albums, Aquarius Dub, released in 1973, and mixed at Dynamic studio by Chin Loy himself.[1] A follow up, Aquarius Dub part 2 was released the following year.
Chin Loy built the first 24-track recording studio in Jamaica in the mid-1970s, and moved away from reggae to other genres. He returned to reggae productions in 1979, scoring several hits in the early dancehall style with artists such as Little Roy, and Ernest Wilson.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Larkin, Colin: "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", 1998, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9
- ^ Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter: "Reggae: The Rough Guide", 1997, Rough Guides, ISBN 1-85828-247-0
[edit] External links
Herman Chin Loy at Roots Archives
