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Reggae

In 1968 the British music scene was shaken to its very foundations by a new and exciting sound which took the country and most of Europe by storm - REGGAE. This energetic raw form of music had evolved in Jamaica over the previous decade with its most notable roots apparent in the rhythms of ska, a sound first heard in the late 50s. In between these rhythms a new beat evolved namely blue beat. The main protagonists and beneficiaries in the United Kingdom were record labels such as Trojan and Pama who had specialised in Jamaican sounds. One has to include in this group of companies the label Blue Beat, which was run by Emille Shallit and preceded all its competitors with quite a number of chart successes by such artists like Prince Buster (007 etc) and many more. Early in 1968 Jack Price's involvement in the music scene led him to meet Emille Shallit of Melodisc Records, where he was offered the position replacing Siggy Jackson as the company's A&R man and representative, calling on all the specialised record shops which sold West Indian and Jamaican records. This was for all the greater London area. There were also trips to various record wholesalers i.e. R G Taylor of Birmingham and other Midland areas. During his spell with Melodisc records, Jack Price developed a deep affinity with Jamaican music which was also featured on its newly launched subsidiary label, Fab. After many trips of driving Emille around, including business trips back and forth to Paris, Jack was now beginning to see the enormous commercial potential for this form of music. After a year with the company he decided it was time to branch out on his own to become a freelance producer specialising in Rock Steady, Blue Beat and Reggae recordings. Over the next year or so Jack Price worked for a number of major British record companies including Fontana, Mercury, Philips, Pye, Decca, President, Rediffusion, and Saga. By the early 70s he was firmly established as one of the country's top UK based Reggae producers, having produced a great number of albums and many singles - the first of these was when Jack convinced Paddy Fleming, Head of Mercury Records (Philips, London), to allow him to produce the Rock Steady album called 'Rock Steady Hits of '69' which was issued on the Fontana label (Philips). It is interesting to note that this album went into the Top Ten of the mid-price range album charts almost straightaway. Now for the first time, one of the major record companies had taken a serious interest in this form of music. But, above all,-at last it meant that all the Rock Steady and Reggae records would now be available through all the normal distribution channels in record shop outlets, instead of the very specialised music shops which existed at this time. By the early 70s Trojan, Pama and Melodisc labels dominated the record music industry in Britain and a few rival labels succeeded in lasting no more than a matter of months in their shadow. Yet early in 1970/71 a brave attempt was made to challenge these record companies when Sioux Records was launched. By now, Jack had already met the very successful and experienced Graham Goodall of Doctor Bird Records where his Pyramid Record label had reached the No. 1 spot of the charts with Desmond Dekker's"Israelites" and several other hit records followed. Goodall had also offered Jack a great deal of information in helping to market Sioux Records. Jack had worked with Graham at the Doctor Bird studio in London's Fulham Road where he had played harmonica, keyboards and the ever-popular melotron for Graham as well as on his own productions. They also travelled to the States and Jamaica together, where Jack was introduced by Graham to many well known local artists including Byron Lee and Harry J. On a particular trip to Jamaica, Jack had played harmonica for a Byron Lee production featuring Barry Biggs on the track "Have you seen Her" (The Splashdown Album). Sioux Records quickly established a lively and imaginative release policy and in-house productions often featured Jack Price under an alias. What is most certain is that Jackie Rowland, Jumbo Sterling and Montego Melon must have included the ubiquitous Jack Price somewhere in their personnel. In its first year of life, Sioux Records issued the impressive total of 25 singles and 4x12 inch albums an output which included some very fine reggae music. In retrospect, Jack Price's most enduring achievement on Sioux was issuing 3 singles by the great Jo Higgs who was instrumental in launching the career of Bob Marley. By the end of 1977, despite the healthy sales of some of its singles, Sioux could not compete with Trojan, Pama and Melodisc and the extreme rarity of its 4 LPs suggests that it never succeeded in cracking the increasingly important album market. Nevertheless, Sioux left behind a legacy of fine groovin reggae. But in 1996 (after discussions with David Kassner) Sioux Records was re-launched and marketed through President Records again. There are currently a number of albums, including compilations, back on the market. Only now through new Sioux tracks and reissues on President and Jet Set Records, Jack Price's overlooked contribution to the development of Reggae music in Britain is beginning to be properly appreciated, but above all, his hard work in convincing a massive record giant like Philips Records that this form of music would dominate huge record sales throughout the whole country. It would seem that Jack Price's predictions had proved to be right. Now that's what you call vision!! David Moss.     Click on image to enlarge .