Known as the Originator, U-Roy wasn't the first DJ, nor even the first to cut a record, but he was the first to shake the nation and he originated a style so distinctly unique that he single-handedly changed his homeland's music scene forever. Born Ewart Beckford in Jones Town, Jamaica, in 1942, he received his famous moniker from a young family member unable to correctly pronounce Ewart and the nickname stuck.
U-Roy's rise to fame was slow, and took almost a decade. He began back in 1961, DJing at the Doctor Dickie's Dynamite sound system. Eventually, he moved onto the Sir Mike the Musical Thunderstorm outfit, and then in 1968 to the Sir George the Atomic sound system. The DJ was then lured away by Coxsone Dodd; however, soon tiring of playing second fiddle to longtime veteran King Stitt, he returned to Sir George. Around this same time, he met up with another royal figure, King Tubby, then working as a disc cutter at Duke Reid's studio. The mechanic was just beginning his musical experiments that eventually led him to develop dub...
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