Prince Jammy

A member of dub's royal family, Lloyd James (aka Prince Jammy, aka King Jammy) began his career as an apprentice mixer under the late great King Tubby. The work he did engineering classic dubs for the likes of Bunny Lee, Yabby You, and others was enough to ensure his place in the history of reggae music, but Prince Jammy's story hardly stops there. He continued working as a mixer into the '80s (the dancehall era), eventually choosing to focus almost exclusively on production work. In this role, Jammy oversaw a series of releases, beginning with Black Uhuru's 1977 debut. Wayne Smith's 1985 Jammy-produced hit, "Under Me Sleng Teng," sparked a digital revolution in the reggae world, as practically every producer of note attempted to imitate the new sound. Thus, Jammy played a seminal role in three of reggae's major stylistic eras. Born in 1947 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Lloyd James eventually moved to Kingston, the subsequent epicenter of reggae. He took to music at a young age and, like his future mentor, Osbourne Ruddock (aka King Tubby), displayed an early understanding of electronics, allowing him to furbish his own sound system with tailor-made equipment. Members of the local Waterhouse scene took note (including Tubby), and many began employing Jammy's services. Following a brief spell in Canada, Jammy returned to Jamaica for good. In 1976, he replaced Prince Philip Smart at Tubby's Waterhouse studio when Smart headed for New York. Jammy's new position meant that he was able to get his hands on some of the finest roots reggae of the era, mixing classic rhythms by the likes of Vivian "Yabby You" Jackson and Bunny "Striker" Lee, the results typically appearing as the version sides of various 45s. Just a year after his tenure with Tubby began, Jammy found himself mixing...