Osbourne Ruddock (28 January 1941 – 6 February 1989), better known as King Tubby, was a Jamaican sound engineer who influenced the development of dub music in the 1960s and 1970s.

Tubby's studio work, in which as a mixing engineer he achieved creative fame previously only reserved for composers and musicians, was influential across many genres of popular music. He is often cited as the inventor of the concept of the remix that later became ubiquitous in dance and electronic music production. Singer Mikey Dread stated, "King Tubby truly understood sound in a scientific sense. He knew how the circuits worked and what the electrons did. That's why he could do what he did".

Career

In the late 1950s, Jamaican sound systems were becoming popular in Kingston and were developing into enterprising businesses. A radio repairman, Tubby found frequent work for the sound systems, as the tropical weather of the Caribbean island (often combined with sabotage by rival sound system owners) led to malfunctions and equipment failure. Tubby owned an electrical repair shop on Drumalie Avenue, Kingston, that fixed televisions and radios. Tubby eventually formed his own sound system, Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi, in 1958. It was popular due to the high quality of his equipment, exclusive releases and Tubby's own echo and reverb sound effects, at that point a novelty which had not been created outside of a studio setting. The sound also launched the career of U-Roy, its featured toaster.

Remixes

Tubby began working as a disc cutter for producer Duke Reid in 1968.

Tubby engineered/remixed songs for Jamaica's top producers such as Lee Perry, Bunny Lee, Augustus Pablo and Vivian Jackson, that featured artists such as Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Linval Thompson, Horace Andy, Big Joe, Delroy Wilson and Jah Stitch. The original session was for a Jacob Miller song called "Baby I Love You So", which featured Bob Marley's drummer Carlton Barrett playing a traditional one drop rhythm. When Tubby completed the dub, which also featured Augustus Pablo on melodica, Barrett's drums regenerated several times and created a totally new rhythm which was later tagged "rockers". This seminal track later also appeared on Pablo's 1976 album King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown.

By the later part of the 1970s, King Tubby had mostly retired from music, still occasionally mixing dubs and tutoring a new generation of artists, including King Jammy and perhaps his greatest protege, Hopeton Brown a.k.a. Scientist.

Discography

With Augustus Pablo

  • Ital Dub (1974, Starapple/Trojan Records)
  • King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976, Yard Music/Clocktower Records)
  • Original Rockers (1979, Rockers International/Greensleeves Records/Shanachie Records)
  • Rockers Meets King Tubbys in a Firehouse (1980, Yard Music/Shanachie)

With The Aggrovators

  • Shalom Dub (1975, Klik)
  • Dubbing in the Backyard (1982, Black Music)

With Prince Jammy

  • His Majestys Dub (1983, Sky Juice)

With Prince Jammy and Scientist

  • First, Second and Third Generation of Dub (1981, KG Imperial)

With Lee "Scratch" Perry

  • Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle (a.k.a. Blackboard Jungle Dub) (1973, Upsetter Records)
  • King Tubby Meets the Upsetter at the Grass Roots of Dub (1974, Fay Music/Total Sounds)

With Bunny Lee

  • Dub from the Roots (Total Sounds, 1974, Total Sounds)
  • Creation of Dub (1975, Total Sounds)
  • The Roots of Dub (a.k.a. Presents the Roots of Dub) (1975, Grounation/Total Sounds)

With Yabby You

  • King Tubby Meets Vivian Jackson (a.k.a. Chant Down Babylon and Walls Of Jerusalem) (1976, Prophet)
  • King Tubby's Prophecy of Dub (a.k.a. Prophecy of Dub) (1976, Prophets)

Other collaborations

  • Niney the Observer – Dubbing with the Observer (1975, Observer/Total Sounds)
  • Harry Mudie – In Dub Conference Volumes One, Two & Three (1975, 1977 & 1978 Moodisc Records)
  • Larry Marshall – Marshall (1975, Marshall/Java Record)
  • Roots Radics – Dangerous Dub (1981, Copasetic)
  • Waterhouse Posse – King Tubby the Dubmaster with the Waterhouse Posse (1983, Vista Sounds)
  • Sly & Robbie – Sly and Robbie Meet King Tubby (1984, Culture Press)

Compilations

  • King Tubby & The Aggrovators – Dub Jackpot (1990, Attack)
  • King Tubby & Friends – Dub Gone Crazy - The Evolution of Dub at King Tubby's 1975-1979 (1994, Blood & Fire)
  • King Tubby & The Aggrovators & Bunny Lee – Bionic Dub (1995, Lagoon)
  • King Tubby & The Aggrovators & Bunny Lee – Straight to I Roy Head 1973–1977 (1995, Lagoon)
  • King Tubby & Scientist – At Dub Station (1996, Burning Sounds)
  • King Tubby & Scientist – In a World of Dub (1996, Burning Sounds)
  • King Tubby & Glen Brown – Termination Dub (1973-79) (1996, Blood & Fire)
  • King Tubby & Soul Syndicate – Freedom Sounds In Dub (1996, Blood and Fire (record label))
  • King Tubby & Friends - Crucial Dub (2000, Delta)
  • King Tubby & The Aggrovators – Foundation of Dub (2001, Trojan)
  • King Tubby – Dub Fever (2002, Music Digital)
  • African Brothers Meet King Tubby – In Dub (2005, Nature Sounds)
  • King Tubby - Hometown Hi-Fi (Dubplate Specials 1975-1979) (2013, Jamaican Recordings)

References

  • Discography at Roots Archives
  • Discography of 1970's recordings & dub sources at X Ray Music