King Tubby

Osbourne Ruddock

Born January 28th 1941 in Kingston, Jamaica, King Tubby is known primarily for his influence on the development of dub in the 1960s through an error of the Baron. His diplome of electronics in the bag, he opened a small store in the family backyard where he repaired electronic material (like Joe Gibbs, Alvin Ranglin or Lloyd Daley), overwhelmed by the work he was seconded by "Barry", very gifted to make big loudspeaker like the Hercules of King Edwards and in 1958 that he starts the Tubby's Home Town Hi Fi in Waterhouse where he will be quickly crowned "King" and becomes one of the best sound system of the island at the end of the 60s accompanied by the DeeJay U-Roy, Tubby soon became quite helpful at most of the sound systems around.

Tubby began working with Arthur "Duke" Reid in 1968. At Treasure Isle, a studio, Tubby began making remixes of hit songs, usually by simply removing the vocals. In time, Tubby (and others) began shifting the emphasis in the instrumentals, adding sounds and removing others and adding various special effects, like echoes, feedback and filtering. By 1968, Tubby's soundsystem was one of the most popular in Kingston until it was destroyed by police in 1975. He decided to open a studio of his own in 1971 and gradually equips his studio with different second-hand equipment such as a two-track console and an Acetate engraving machine which allows him to provide several sonos in Dub Plates. His remixes soon proved enormously popular and he became one of the biggest celebrities in Jamaica.

During the 1970s, Tubby's work in the studio gave rise to modern dub music. He had a long string of hit songs, and worked as a producer & engineer for some of Jamaica's most popular artists, including Lee Perry, Augustus "Gussie" Clarke, Rupie Edwards, Carlton Patterson, Niney The Observer, Glen Brown, Leonard "Santic" Chin, Bertram Brown, Augustus Pablo, Yabby You and mostly Bunny Lee for whom he made almost all the B-sides from 1974 to 1977 (with the The Aggrovators). It is thanks to Bunny Lee that he acquires a four-track MCI console. In 1973, he began recording vocals to put along the instrumentals. By the later part of the decade though, King Tubby had mostly retired from music, still occasionally recording remixes and tutoring a new generation of artists, including Philip Smart the very first one since 1969, Pat Kelly in 1974, King Jammy who became the official sound engineer in 1975 as well as Errol Thompson and Hopeton Brown aka Scientist in 1980.

In the 1980s, he focused on production for Anthony Red Rose, Sugar Minott and other popular musicians, for his Firehouse group of labels. He was shot and killed by unknown persons, probably in a robbery attempt, in 1989, February 06th where he became a legend. RIP

In Groups: King Tubby And Friends