Last Updated on October 8, 2020, 8:10 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Jamaican producer Bunny “Striker” Lee, who helped in cultivating rhythms of reggae and dub working with many of the island’s biggest stars, died at the age of 79 years.
The cause of Bunny’s death is still unknown, but he was reported to be suffering from a kidney disease during recent months.
DJ David Rodigan was among the people who paid their tribute to Lee, and he said that the reggae world lost an iconic figure; Bunny “Striker” Lee was undoubtedly one of the most inspirational record producers in Jamaican music, and he had a phenomenal catalogue of hits and Lee drove the Jamaican music forward across the decades, and he would be sorely missed.
Lee was born with the name Edward O’Sullivan Lee in 1941 in Kingston, and he started his career as a record plugger, and he sourced tracks for radio stations.
He was a trained electrical engineer, and he also started producing and, after working with various labels, he set up his own label, Lee’s.
He helmed hits by Slim Smith, John Holt, Delroy Wilson, Horace Andy, Peter Tosh and more from the mid-1960s onwards, mostly licensing them to other labels like Island Records.
Lee’s rhythms would help the Jamaican music to move from the ska and rocksteady styles to the tempo and bounce of reggae.
Do the Reggay by Toots Hibbert who also died recently may have cemented the name of the genre, but Bangarang, a Lee track which was recorded with Stranger Cole, is regarded by many to be the first reggae song.
Lee also had a UK Top 10 hit in 1969 with Max Romeo’s reggae track Wet Dream, which spent almost 25 weeks on the chart.
Working with producer and engineer King Tubby in the early 1970s, he also helped to pioneer the echoing, eerie sound of dub with its focus on drums, bass and studio effects.
The massively prolific Lee was also one of the first producers to work with Bob Marley’s band the Wailers, as well as with other, later Jamaican stars including Sly & Robbie, Beenie Man and Buju Banton.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
