Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is one of the most enduring and original reggae producers and artists of all time, whose on-the-edge creative genius has seen him work with everyone from The Heptones to The Skatalites to The Clash. Dub producer Adrian Sherwood is a long-time collaborator of Perry’s, and co-produced his December 2019 release Heavy Rain, which also features Brian Eno and The Wailers’ Vin Gordon. Always one to follow the beat of his own drummer, the self-dubbed ‘Upsetter’ Perry continues to break new ground with the hardest rebel Rasta tunes and the most unpredictable instrumental dubs. From his early days in the 1960s as a singer and engineer for Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One in Kingston, Perry went on to produce the seminal Bob Marley and the Wailers classics African Herbsman and Soul Revolution. One of his most notable contributions was the pairing of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer with the Barnet Brothers, forming Bob Marley and the Wailers. After releasing seminal solo albums in the 1970s, Perry went back into the studio in the mid-1980s with a variety of partners, including Sherwood and Terence Trent D’Arby. Perry’s stream-of-consciousness vocals have been called the babblings of a lunatic by some and the offerings of a prophet by others. Either way, his unique dubbing style is infectious.
