Reggae Legend Prince Buster RIP
Jamaican ska/ rocksteady founder Prince Buster (real name Cecil Bustamente Campbell) died last week at his Miami home, aged 78.
Producing and releasing seminal reggae tracks including Folkes Brothers’s “Oh Carolina’ in 1960 and Madness, he also inspired enormously Britain’s Two Tone movement, including bands like the Specials whose debut single Gangsters was a direct interpretation of Buster’s seminal Ska anthem Al Capone.
Before producing, he was also one of Jamaica’s first and most influential sound system DJs, pioneering the role of the music selector of Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s “Downbeat” system in the 1950s.
Island Records supremo (and equally influential Jamaican music impresario) Chris Blackwell paid tribute this week.
“Prince Buster took it to another level,” he told the Economist.
“He was one of the most important people in the history of Jamaican music, which is still important and still heard in every corner of the world.”
