Blackwell
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP):
ONE OF the people who helped propel Bob Marley to superstardom in the 1970s will receive Jamaica's oldest award for excellence next month, the Institute of Jamaica said yesterday.
Chris Blackwell, 66, was among 12 people scheduled to receive the Musgrave Medal on October 6 from the institute's historical society, it said.
Blackwell was born in London, England, but grew up in the town of Oracabessa, St. Mary, in Jamaica. He started Island Records in Kingston in 1959, but moved the company to London in the early 1960s where he distributed Ska and calypso records to England's growing Caribbean population.
The company's first major hit was 1964's My Boy Lollipop, a Ska song by Jamaican singer Millie Small. However, the company's stocks rose a decade later with Marley, a Rastafarian from the Kingston ghetto of Trench Town, Kingston.
Island, which Blackwell sold to Polygram - now part of Universal Music Group - in 1989, distributed 13 of Marley's albums, including his debut Catch A Fire in 1972.
The Musgrave Medals have been presented annually since 1897 and are presented to Jamaicans who excel in the arts, music and public service.
Kenneth Khouri, one of Jamaica's first record producers and distributors, and 1970s singer Ernie Smith, are among those who will also receive the award.
