KING TUBBY WAS BORN UNDER THE MORE HUMBLE NAME OF OSBOURNE RUDDOCK IN KINSTON: JAMAICA ON JANUARY 28: 1941. KING TUBBY SPENT YEARS WORKING ON OTHER PEOPLE’S SOUNDSYSTEMS: BUT BY 1968 HE WAS READY TO OPEN HIS OWN: THE LEGENDARY TUBBY’S HOME TOWN HI-FI. U-ROY: I-ROY: AND BIG YOUTH WERE JUST SOME OF THE STARS WHO MADE THEIR MARK TOASTING AT TUBBY’S HI-FI. IN 1971: KING TUBBY WAS READY TO TAKE ANOTHER LEAP FORWARD: BY OPENING UP HIS OWN STUDIO. HE BOUGHT AN OLD FOUR TRACK MIXER FROM BYRON LEE’S DYNAMIC STUDIO: FOUND A SPACE ON DRUMLIE AVENUE: AND HIS STUDIO WAS UP AND RUNNING. THE STUDIO QUICKLY BECAME A FAVORITE FOR THE LIKES OF AUGUSTUS PABLO: LEE PERRY: PRINCE TONY ROBINSON AND GLEN BROWN. KING TUBBY REMIXED GREAT SWATHES OF MUSIC FOR PABLO’S ROCKERS LABEL. HE ALSO LAUNCHED HIS OWN RECORD LABELS – FIREHOUSE: WATERHOUSE: KINGSTON ll AND TAURUS.

BY THE MID-80’S: KING TUBBY HAD NOW SHIFTED INTO PRODUCTION: AND RELEASED A STREAM OF SEMINAL SINGLES THAT MASHED UP THE DANCEFLOOR BY THE LIKES OF SUGAR MINOTT AND ANTHONY RED ROSE. HIS BEST WORK WAS NOW IN THE PRODUCTION FIELD: WORKING WITH YOUNG UP AND COMING DJ’S AND VETERAN VOCALISTS. PLIERS AND CHAKA DEMUS & FAME: NINJAMAN: GREGORY ISAACS AND JOHNNY CLARKE WERE JUST SOME OF THE TALENT THAT CUT CRUCIAL SINGLES FOR HIM. 'KING TUBBY PRESENTS SOUNDCLASH DUBPLATE STYLE' ARRIVED IN 1989: BUNDLING UP SUPERB DUBS OF HIS DANCEHALL HITS. AS THE DECADE DREW TO A CLOSE: KING TUBBY SEEMED DESTINED TO CONTINUE STAMPING HIS IMPRINT ON JAMAICA’S SCENE: STILL IN DEMAND: AND STILL A POWERFUL MUSICAL FORCE. AND THEN: ON FEBRUARY 6: 1989: HIS CAREER CAME TO SUDDEN END: THAT NIGHT HE WAS SHOT AND KILLED OUTSIDE HIS HOME IN WATERHOUSE. HIS MURDER REMAINS UNSOLVED: HIS DEATH BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN THE RESULT OF A STREET ROBBERY. IN THE YEARS SINCE: KING TUBBY’S RENOWN HAS ONLY GROWN. THE KING MAY BE DEAD: BUT HIS LEGACY APPEARS TO BE EVER LASTING.