Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels".

Having formed Island Records in Jamaica on 22 May 1959 when he was nearly 22, Blackwell was among the first to record the Jamaican popular music that eventually became known as ska.

Backed by Stanley Borden from RKO, Blackwell's business and reach grew substantially, and he went on to forge the careers of Bob Marley, Grace Jones and U2 among many other diverse high-profile acts. Free's Free and The B-52's' self-titled debut album in 1979.

Having sold Island in 1989, Blackwell embarked on ventures in "hotels, real estate, resorts, another record company, rum, and his Island Films released Kiss of the Spider Woman and Stop Making Sense, among others."

Early life

Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell was born on 22 June 1937 in Westminster, London, member of the family responsible for the Crosse & Blackwell brand, and Blanche Lindo Blackwell, a Costa-Rican-born Jamaican heiress.

Blackwell spent his childhood in Jamaica, and was sent to Britain to continue his education at Harrow. Deciding not to attend university, he returned to Jamaica to become aide-de-camp to Jamaica's Governor, Sir Hugh Foot. After Foot was transferred to Cyprus, Blackwell left King's House to pursue a career in real estate and other businesses, including managing jukeboxes across the country, which brought him into contact with the Jamaican music community. Island's debut release was a piano and vocal album by Bermudian jazz pianist Lance Hayward along with his band members, who all played at Half Moon resort in Jamaica as part of the resort's in house band. Blackwell began recording Jamaican popular music in 1959, achieving a number one hit there with Laurel Aitken's "Boogie in my Bones/Little Sheila".

Commercial breakthrough

By the following year, the fledgling record producer had released 26 singles and two albums on Island. whose album, Poèmes rock, was released on Island. "The bigger labels are supermarkets," Blackwell remarked. "I like to think of Island as a very classy delicatessen."

Island Records was also the first distribution home for Trojan Records, Chrysalis Records, Bronze Records, Stiff Records, Virgin Records, ZTT, Gee Street Records and the American Labels Shelter Records whose roster included Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, J.J. Cale and Phoebe Snow and also Sue Records, who produced Jimmy McGriff, The Soul Sisters and Ike and Tina Turner. Having signed Bob Marley, Blackwell added Toots and the Maytals to his roster, and had the final word in their lineup. In November 2016, Jackie Jackson described the formation of the group in a radio interview for Kool 97 FM Jamaica. Accompanied by Paul Douglas and Radcliffe "Dougie" Bryan in studio, Jackson explained,

<blockquote>We were talking about reggae is going international now. We kept on meeting and he (Blackwell) decided that the backing band that back all of the songs, the recording band, should be the Maytals band... And then we hit the road in 1975...we were the opening act for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne. We were the opening act for The Who for about two weeks." As Blackwell says, "Toots and the Maytals were unlike anything else...sensational, raw and dynamic." Blackwell had a strong commitment to the band, describing Toots as "one of the purest human beings I've met in my life, pure almost to a fault." Blackwell appeared in the 2011 BBC documentary Reggae Got Soul: The Story of Toots and the Maytals which told the "untold story of one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica."

Bob Marley

One of Blackwell's achievements was bringing Bob Marley & The Wailers to the attention of international audiences.

<blockquote>Chris Blackwell say, 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I give them the money to make this record.' But at that time they was forming the band. Bob (Bob Marley) came to me, figure it was me, Gladdy, Winston Wright, Jackie and Hux to be the band. That was the band that Bob did really want, but those guys didn't want to get involved. You know that the situation around Bob was pretty hectic...They turned it down. So right away, I couldn't get involved, because I didn't want to leave the guys...If I leave, I feel it would be a bad vibes."</blockquote>

Blackwell's gesture led to the longterm success of both Marley and the label. Of his experience with Marley, Blackwell has said:

More reggae, movies, and Compass Point

Blackwell also pioneered reggae to wider audiences the UK and the US beginning in the mid 1970s with releases from Burning Spear, Augustus Pablo, Inner Circle, Dillinger, Black Uhuru, Third World, Aswad, Max Romeo, Justin Hines, Sly and Robbie and Lee Perry. He also formed Mango Records, which featured Jamaican and other artists from the Third World. Mango introduced Salif Keita, Baaba Maal, Gibson Brothers, Angélique Kidjo, King Sunny Adé and many others.

Eventually, Island moved into movies and released The Harder They Come (1972) in the UK, which featured Jimmy Cliff. Produced and directed by fellow Jamaican Perry Henzell, the film marked the first time that Jamaican themes appeared in mainstream cinema.

In 2001, Blackwell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and bestowed the Ahmet Ertegun Award. During his acceptance speech he made a point of thanking Steve Winwood and acknowledged his importance in the development of Island Records. Blackwell said "Steve Winwood was really the cornerstone of Island Records. He's a musical genius and because he was with Island all the other talent really wanted to be with Island."

Other activities

Blackwell has long owned Goldeneye in Oracabessa, the previous home of Ian Fleming, where the author wrote all the James Bond books. Blackwell developed the property into a community of villas and beach cottages, each with its own private access to the sea, and Goldeneye is considered the most exclusive of the Island Outpost resorts. the Mary Vinson Blackwell Foundation (established in honour of his late wife to whom he was married from 1998 till 2009), and the Jamaican Conservation Trust.

In 2003, Blackwell launched the Goldeneye Film Festival, which ran for three years. In September that year, Blackwell received the Jamaican Musgrave Medal, which is awarded to Jamaicans who excel in the arts, music and public service. In 2004, the Order of Jamaica was bestowed upon Blackwell for philanthropy and outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry.

Blackwell revisited his family's legacy in Jamaica's banana, coconut, and rum export industries in 2009, when, at the age of 72 years, he introduced his own brand of rum, "Blackwell Black Gold", onto the market. The beverage is made from Jamaican sugar cane, water and yeast, and aged in American oak barrels. Blackwell also produces a Bond-themed, limited-edition rum, featured in the 2021 film No Time to Die. His rum was also featured in the 2023 reality competition show 007: Road to a Million.

Filmography

  • Dr. No (1962) – Henchman jumping off dock into water (uncredited)

References

Bibliography

  • "Island Records Founder Chris Blackwell Looks Back on His Life in Music", Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross, NPR, June 8, 2022