The music industry lost another one of its legendary contributors last month. Of course I’m referring to the late Joe Gibbs. Here was a producer who dominated a large part of the seventies and some of the eighties, while working with such giants as: Dennis Brown (some would say Brown’s most successful period), Jacob Miller, Culture, Big Youth, Ruddy Thomas, Beres Hammond, Gregory Isaacs, Mighty Diamonds, Barrington Levy, George Nooks, J.C. Lodge, and Tyrone Taylor just to name a few.
Sadly, like so often occurs in the reggae culture, this passing was not given the media attention that it so richly deserved by our most popular Jamaican-based print publications. Gibbs death, from all reports received (and these reports were sketchy at best) took place on Thursday night February 21, but did not make it to one of Jamaica’s main online newspapers until Monday, February 25th … four days later! This really didn’t get much coverage after that.
When I first heard of the death, I scrambled for information to share with my radio audience. I was going to be on the air on Friday, February 22 with Hitz FM & RoutFM.com, broadcasting to South Florida (7pm-10pm), and the following Tuesday (6pm-7pm) in New York.
My first source for information… or so I thought, was to call Jamaica since this is where the death took place and this producer was so legendary on the island. After calling three main music figures there (and this was already Friday evening), to my surprise, I realized I was the first one breaking the news to each of them and I am all the way in the United States.
As I recall, not so long ago we lost another very popular singer, Tyrone Taylor. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack when it came to getting information on his death, funeral arraignments etc… from out of Jamaica. He was buried without much knowledge by the general public of when and where he would be buried so proper respect could have been paid by his fans who may have wished to do so.
It leaves me to wonder, just how seriously those of us in a position to do so are, to take the responsibility to preserve our rich culture and heritage. Monetary success, recognition and international acceptance of the music have come at the expense of all the pioneers who came before, sacrificing through lack of knowledge of the business part of the music industry while they were delivering lifetime classical standards that we still enjoy today.
In most cases the reggae and rock steady producers of those times were all shrewd business men, much to the malign of the majority of the artists. These producers still played a big part in the birth of what is now an internationally accepted music. They provided the studios and facilities where it all began. This music and popularity did not start today. We can’t afford to ignore those who cultivated this great asset of a small Caribbean Island.
Maybe those in charge at those national newspaper’s editing desks are of a younger generation these days. However that is no excuse for not knowing about whence we came from and how to preserve the history of the culture for the upcoming generations.
