Barbara Ellington, Acting Lifestyle Editor
Blackwell: I am surprised by how huge the music business has become. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/ FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
HE HAS earned his reputation as the successful businessman who took Bob Marley and reggae music to the world. Chris Blackwell, O.J., is founder of Island Records, Palm Pictures and the Island Outpost Group, as well as the owner of some choice resort properties in Jamaica and Harbour Island in The Bahamas.
Mr. Blackwell is easy-going, very knowledgeable about the music business and passionate about Jamaica and its future. He spends his time between his island home, London, England, and the United States, and loves water sports. He is comfortable with the gardener on the property as with the movers and shakers of international entertainment industries or world leaders.
But the business mogul, who likes to jet-ski and play backgammon, had rather inauspicious beginnings. He leaves no boundaries between work and play, and admits to being fortunate to enjoy all the things he does. He tells his story.
BE: How did you get into the music business and how did it evolve into the success story you have become?
CB: I was doing many different things after school in London and I came home as ADC to then Governor Sir Hugh Foot; he went to Cyprus and then Sir Kenneth Blackburn took over. But I never got on with him; I liked Sir Hugh Foot.
BE: Were you a soldier?
CB: No, I got the job through a contact at a glamorous occasion. I was at a party with my mother at the Dorchester Hotel; it was given by actress Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Mike Todd; and Governor Foot was in attendance. My mother knew him when he was here as Foreign Secretary. I wasn't doing anything much and he asked if I'd come work with him as his civilian ADC. I was number two on his staff to David Smith, and my job was comparable to a road manager in a rock 'n' roll band.
I did not remain very long with Sir Kenneth, and after leaving, I sold real estate, then I imported and rented motor scooters. During that time I was teaching water-skiing at Half Moon and heard a band playing there. I decided to record them. We came into Kingston and recorded at Federal Records. I discovered that I loved the process so I started going to different shows, listening to the music and getting a feel for it. At one of these shows Wilfred Jackie Edwards sang a song and I liked it and decided to record him.
The first person I ever recorded was Laurel Aiken who recently
died; both sides of the record went to number one Little Sheila and Boogie
In My Bones. It was an attempt at Jamaican popular music. I then recorded Owen
Gray. My first three records went to number one and I once had six records in
the top10 chart.
I sold my records to the sound system operators who used to get
them from overseas. I used to buy and sell back to them; then they decided to
make their own. It was the era of Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, Arthur 'Duke'
Reid, Vincent 'King' Edwards and they had a system of recording and keeping
the records for up to three months before releasing them. So I used to go to
New York, buy records and sell them to the sound system guys.
Local producers began to make their own records because it was
a successful business. They also sold to sound system operators. Their records
were much better than mine - more raw and rough and more happening.
As Independence approached in 1962 and my records were selling
more to the Jamaican community in England than here, I decided it would make
better sense for me to be in London; (I was born there at Grosvenor Square).
So, I went to Leslie Kong and, along with his brother, he became the first shareholder
of Island Records. Coxsone and Duke Reid gave me their records in England and
that's how I began there.
In England, I identified where the Jamaican communities were,
the shops that served them and I drove around in a small car selling them records.
In those days I lived a double life; selling records in the day and being in
the social swirl in the evenings. I used the opportunity to play the records
- which to them sounded hilarious but there was one that they all reacted
to. It was We'll Meet by Roy and Millie Small.
I figured that since the reaction to the song was so strong,
I'd invite Millie Small over to do a recording. I wrote to her mother and she
gave Millie permission to come. During the days when I bought records a lot,
I had liked one song in particular and when Millie came over, I listened to
a tape recording I'd made of the song My Boy Lollipop. It was perfect for her.
Meanwhile, at heart I was still a jazz lover and one of the first
records I made featured Ernest Ranglin, so I'd brought him over to England and
while he was there, I asked him to arrange the music for My Boy Lollipop with
Millie. He did, and it became a huge hit worldwide. It sold six million copies.
BE: So Millie Small really bus' you out?
CB: Yes, she did, and her record took me everywhere. I travelled the world with her to promote it.
MEETING BOB
BE: Fast-forward to the Bob Marley years; how did you meet him?
CB: That was much later. I did not meet him till 1972.
I had released records of his before that - including his first one. But I misread
the label and put it out as Robert Morley.
I released Simmer Down, Put it On and others, but we never met;
all I'd heard was that they (The Wailers) were impossible to deal with. But
one day someone rang me and asked if I'd like to meet him because he was in
town. I agreed and they came, and I was very impressed when they walked into
my office. They were down and out and broke but all three - Peter Tosh Bob Marley
and Bunny Wailer - were completely charismatic.
And later, as I got to know them, I did not find them difficult,
they were strong, independent characters who wanted their own shot at expressing
themselves and to be compensated fairly. I took a risk and gave them the 4,000
pounds they needed to make the record. People said I was crazy and would never
see the money again. But when I came to Jamaica, they picked me up and took
me to Harry J's Studios and played what turned out to be Catch A Fire. It was
a musical masterpiece, and hearing it was one of the highlights of my life.
You could hear that they had put the money into the record. (The original on
vinyl is now a collector's item worth thousands of dollars).
BE:What was the return on that investment?
CB: The person who introduced me to them took 1,000 pounds
from the 4,000 I gave them. It sold 14,000 copies; reggae recordings did not
sell very well at the time. The only one that did well back then was Jimmy Cliff's
Wonderful World, Beautiful People.
BE: Did your relationship with Marley continue to his death?
CB: Yes, it did.
BE: I keep hearing about the catalogue of unrecorded songs he left behind; did he have any recordings that have yet to be released?
CB: He had some sketches and they are working to develop some of them. I think one will come out this year. I have heard three of seven and they are great. His son Stephen Marley is working on producing them.
RESORT PROPERTIES
BE: How did you come to find and own some of Jamaica's best properties?
CB: I had always been interested in the hotel business
and when I had a little cash, I'd buy property. I bought Strawberry Hill in
1966. I knew it from living further in the hills and used to come here for tea.
BE: What about the legendary Golden Eye?
CB: I knew the owner Ian Fleming quite well and my mother
looked after the property after he died. It was being kept in trust for his
son who later committed suicide and it was put on the market. My mother really
loved Golden Eye and asked me to try to buy it for her. I found out the price
but having just paid Marley some royalties, I had no money. I called him and
told him the property was available and a great buy so he should get it but
let my mother swim there. The paperwork began. It took about six months but
he went to look at it before closing the deal and did not like the vibe he got.
He felt it was not his kind of place and asked to get out of the deal. I had made some more money in the interim, so on the sale contract his name was crossed out and mine put on. He bought another place in Priory, St. Ann.
BE: What about James Bond Beach?
CB: That property was owned by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the transaction took a long time. There was a Rasta man on it; he scraped out an area, created a small beach and hung up the sign: 'James Bond Beach'. When I saw it, I thought it was an excellent idea. I made a deal with him, gave him money to build a house and took it over.
BE: How hands-on are you in the daily management of your businesses and what else are you doing business-wise now?
CB: The expansion of my properties is the main thing
now. (see Financial Gleaner, Friday August 19). I still work on world music
with two African artistes - Babba Mal and Gigi. They are doing well: The former
is popular and hugely successful in London. I am hands-on on specific things
such as Golden Eye.
BE: Where do you spend most of your time?
CB: I spend a third of it here, a third in Europe and a third in America.
BE: What is your long-term vision for Jamaica and Strawberry Hill. Some say the property has not really settled down because of frequent changes in management.
CB: They are right. We have been unlucky so far because
it's difficult to run a place in the mountains; people have things to do in
Kingston giving them other options. I am really concentrating on my Jamaican
operations now, and with the new management we have some
new things to coming on stream such as the yoga deck and the 'unwind' package.
It will continue to be a place where people can retreat to for business or pleasure.
BE: Would you retire here or in England?
CB: Yes. I feel my roots here. I was born in England
but came here at age six months. I grew up here, went to school in England but
I feel connected here.
BE: What do you think about dancehall music?
CB: I like it. It's got great attitude and some excellent
rhythms. It's an evolution of the music. Popular music is based on music that
your parents hate. It is generally looked down on, like heavy metal and rock
'n' roll and that's why it's huge. It's a basic rite of passage for youth to
rebel against their parents, so dancehall music will be around for a while.
BE: If there was one young Jamaican musician who you would consider taking into your fold again who would it be?
CB: He would be Damion Marley. I like his understanding
of the music and innate music intelligence. His upcoming CD is wonderful. I
am currently involved with his management team.
BE: Of the scores of famous people you have met, who's impressed you the most?
CB: Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. But I am a big fan of Clinton's.
BE: What is the biggest mistake you have made in business or the worst business decision you made?
CB: I have made a few but in general it's when I have tried to do too many things at once.
BE: Who taught you business savvy?
CB: No one. It was something that you cannot learn in
school. It only became a proper business in the last 10-15 years; it was not
something you could model. It was different from mainstream business and we
learnt it all along the way.
BE: Of the technological advances in the music industry now, what impresses you most?
CB: Every day is unbelievable; the frst time that copyright
business has been negatively affected by technology is now. Whenever there was
new technology before, it meant new opportunities to exploit what existed. When
I started in 1978, and an album came out, you could get 10 songs on one record.
It was then that I recognised that it was important to own the copyright, because
when new technologies come, there are new opportunities to exploit what existed
before.
The technology has now evolved to digital download which is not a plus, but things will get organised.
BE: Is the Blackwell legacy secure for the future? Are you grooming the children to take over?
CB: I have three children and my youngest has a good ear for the music but the future is safe.
BE: What else would you like to achieve?
CB: I am satisfied with where I am now.
BE: What has surprised you most along your journey?
CB: How huge the music business became. I never thought
it would get so large; unlike other businesses, no model existed before but
it exploded to become more corporate and is now owned by Wall Street. I think
only independents are good for the music; the others are in too much hurry to
produce. All major artistes would not have made it with major corporations;
they would have been dropped when the going got rough. There are no significant
independents but thousands of tiny record companies without the ability to do
much.
BE: What is your wish for Jamaica and what do you think needs to be done to aleviate crime?
CB: If people have no opportunities, what can they do?
So much has to be done and it takes money. People need opportunities for education
so that we can get rid of crime.
Jamaica is magic, the people are magical and many things are
happening and it feels promising at the moment so hopefully it will all come
true for us. I have always felt very optimistic about Jamaica and I wish that
it will continue to grow from strength to strength.
