Figure 1: Edward O'Sullivan Lee O.D.
Ragazine – March 23rd 1993
There is no time like the present to reflect on how this music called Reggae came to be. To this end we follow the story of one of the pioneers, Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee, for a potted history of the music.
Slim Smith’s ‘My Conversation’, Delroy Wilson’s ‘Better Must Come’, Pat Kelly’s ‘How Long’, John Holt’s ‘Stick By Me’ Cornel Campbell’s ‘’The Gorgon’ and Max Romeo’s ‘Wet Dream’ are just some of the Reggae classics that have come from the Striker’s label.
Just in case, like me, you’re too young to know from personal experience who the striker is, let’s put it this way: Remember the Christmas number 1 of 1991 – Mad Cobra’s ‘Tek Him’? Well the rhythm for that originally accompanied Eric Donaldson’s ‘Cherry Oh Baby’, produced by none other than Striker Lee 20 years ago.
He was born Edward O’Sullivan in 1941 in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica. The nickname, Bunny, was given him because he was such a ‘fattie’ as a child. The label name, ‘Striker’, came from a mispronunciation of his favourite movie, the ‘Hitchhiker’.
An electrician by trade, his career was cut short by an accident at work which left him with several broken bones. During his lengthy 
five-year convalescence, he bought a bike and it broke down. Bunny taught himself how to put it together and subsequently opened his own bike workshop.
“Dem times my friends used to come round and sing with me,” he remembers. “Man like Derrick Morgan, Wilfred ‘Jackie’ Edwards, Lord Tanamo, Bunny & Skully, Higgs & Wilson and Owen Grey. They used to rehearse by me before them go ah studio.
“Dem times we used to make a lot of Calypso in Jamaica, until Coxsone and Duke Reid start with the Rhythm & Blues ting.”
The “R & B ting” referred to was the initial adaptation of the American Doo Wop sound which permeated Jamaica’s airwaves. When Jamaican spices were added to the mix it was renamed Ska.
“Clue J & The Blues Blasters give it the name Ska, and Duke Reid slow it down and call it Rocksteady,” Adds Bunny, “Derrick Morgan was the first to do a Rocksteady tune named ‘Rudie’s Unfair’, then Slim Smith do one name ‘People Get Ready’, then Alton Ellis do ‘Rocksteady’ (as covered by Sanchez in recent months).
“When I join it now, we call it Reggae around 1967/8. I think one of the very first ‘Reggae’ singles was my production of Lester Sterling’s ‘Bangarang’. Jackie Mittoo used to play the Rocksteady shuffle organ (at Studio One). I wanted my own played different, but I couldn’t explain it so I tell Glen (Adams) to make the organ go ‘Reggae, Reggae’. “
Bunny’s route to the studio was anything but straightforward. Surrounded by talented people, the popular dancer (alongside Castro Brown), becam
e part of young 60’s Kingston’s in-crowd. At JBC’s (Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation) Teenage Dance Party, a panel of four judges from the crowd would choose which record should be a hit and the station would then playlist it.
Bunny and his friends then became what today we’d call pluggers. Local producers would specifically give them records to put forward, and if they were successful, the plugger was rewarded. Following one such success story, Duke Reid gave Bunny some free time in his Treasure Isle studio. It was 1967 and Bunny was back at work so he had enough money to pay the Lyn Taitt band £20 for them to record three songs. Lloyd & The Groove Boys and Roy Shirley were the artists on the session.
“In those days,” he says pulling his frame tighter onto the sofa for comfort, “You just record the tune and a distributor take it and press it and give you royalties.”
Not being a musician himself, how did he get the music made?
“I still don’t play any instruments, but I know what I want, and I know how it sound. I always used the underdogs like Lyn Taitt and Bobby Aitken and the Caribbeats who played on ‘My Conversation’ and others. Then I formed my own band, The Aggravators, which became the Upsetters and then the Wailers.
“As soon as you find someone who can play, someone else take them on tour. I worked with almost every musician in Jamaica. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics, The Skatalites, Roland Alphonso, Sly & Robbie, Willow, Ossie Scott and Dean Fraser – undoubtedly the best horns man right now.”
Lee would go on to create his own revolutionary sound known as the flying cymbals with Carlton ‘Santa’ Davis. Hit after hit followed and he then became known as ‘the hitmaker from Jamaica’. With no less than eight producer of the year awards, he’d really earned the moniker. After all this success and an international distribution deal with Pama Records (later Jet Star), you have to wonder why he stopped.
“The gunman dem come inna de business, and from them ‘roun’ you, them get you inna trouble. As police hol’ a drugs man, him say him a Reggae artis’. They just give the music a bad name. Also a lot of drugs man did come in and wash dem money. So you as a (legit) producer couldn’t compete with the amount of money.
“I did make one and two tunes still, but I have nothing more to prove.”
Today Bunny Lee is an elder statesman of the business and one of our few living legends , he still mentors younger artists and producers. Most of his time is now spent running business interests as well as watching like a hawk to see if and when one of the younger artists samples his work a la Jazmine Sullivan. He is one of the most readily likeable characters in Jamaican music and also one of the most knowledgeable. The true extent of his contribution to popular music may never be truly known even after he’s written his autobiography.
Congratulations on your award Mr Edward O’Sullivan Lee O.D.
Kennedy ‘Prezedent’ Mensah
Pictures: Hopeton ‘Stumpy’ Walker
Prezedent@back2dafuture.com
www.myspace.com/bac2dafuturemusic1
Facebook: Kennedy Prezedent Mensah
On This Day....
1989 – Tiger was sitting atop the UK Reggae charts in combination with Anthony Malvo with their ‘Come Back To Me’ – as Ellie woud say – ah bi, ah big tune!
This week’s number 1’s
Beenie Man ‘Pickney Nah Hold You Down’ Caribbean Hot 30
Beres Hammond ‘I Feel Good’ – Choice FM, London/New Style, Birmingham, UK
Cocoa Tea ‘Barack Obama’ – New York/South Florida
George Nooks ‘Rest Your Love On Me - Jamaica Music Count Down (Reggae)
Mavado ‘So Special’ – BBC 1xtra/Jamaica Music Count Down (Dancehall)/RETV (Dancehall)
Million Stylez ‘Police In Helicopter’ – Germany
Morgan Heritage ‘Nothing To Smile Bout’ – France
Queen Ifrica ‘Keep It To Yourself’ – RETV (Reggae)
