THIS MONTH’S REVELATIONS FROM THE WORLD OF UNCUT WITH... Billy Bragg | BadBadNotGood & Arthur Verocai | Spencer Cullum
“IGAVE Bob Marley reggae as a present,” said Lee “Scratch” Perry, with a mischievous grin. “He live with me for months. I give him songs to record. I give him rhythms. I give him all my love. He was like a brother to me in some other life gone by. Me think if he recognised me as a brother, he wouldn’t have died. He’d still be here now.”
Perry’s mentorship of Jamaica’s biggest cultural export remains the starting point for any investigation of Lee “Scratch” Perry, the producer, songwriter and vocalist who has died aged 85. But it was just one part of a 60-year career that saw him transform Jamaican music, studio technology and the role of the producer. He was an early exponent of sampling, integrating found sounds – rain, flowing water, crying babies – into his productions.