Lloyd 'King Jammys' James

PRODUCER LLOYD 'King Jammys' James has signed an online and mobile distribution deal with VP Records. This allows the Queens, New York company to market James' vast catalogue on the fast-growing digital music market.

Olivier Chastan, an executive at VP, said last week that "King Jammys is one of the most important producers in the history of reggae music. Only small portions of his catalogue have been released over the years, and we estimate that close to 500 albums worth of music have not been released.

We intend to make all of those available digitally over the course of 2009."

Two years ago, VP released compilation albums featuring some of James' biggest productions which covered his golden period of the 1980s and 1990s.

James is an influential figure in modern dancehall. In the 1980s, he produced singer Wayne Smith's groundbreaking song, Sleng Teng, which is recognised as the genre's first computerised beat.

Jammys took off in the 1990s, producing numerous hit songs by Shabba Ranks, Cocoa Tea, Home T and Admiral Tibet.