Photo: Jake from Manchester, UK / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Lee Scratch Perry was a genuine wizard, and I do not use that word lightly. The Jamaican producer was a founding architect of dub, treating the mixing desk as an instrument decades before sampling culture made that idea ordinary. He worked with Bob Marley and the Wailers, built his legendary Black Ark studio, and layered echo and effects until reggae tracks dissolved into something hallucinatory. He was also gloriously eccentric, eventually burning the Black Ark down himself. He kept performing into his 80s before dying in 2021. Half the producers shaping modern music are quietly his descendants, whether they know it or not. A true original.
Overview
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lee "Scratch" Perry
- Name (Japanese)
- リー・スクラッチ・ペリー
- Reading
- りー・すくらっち・ぺりー
- Born
- March 20, 1936 – August 29, 2021
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Rat
- Origin
- Kendal, Jamaica
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- composer / singer / songwriter / record producer / musician
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2002 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album
- 2013 Gold Musgrave Medal
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Composer — see all → · Singer — see all → · More people from Jamaica →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.