Jamaican Music Pioneer and Grammy Award Winner, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, has died. According to reports, the prominent artist passed away this Sunday morning (29 of August) at Noel Holmes Hospital in Jamaica after battling illness for many years. Born Rainford Hugh Perry in March 1936, had 85 years.
The news of his death surprises his followers and Reggae lovers since only yesterday he had published a video on his Instagram account.. The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, confirmed his death by sending his condolences.
“My deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of legendary producer and singer Rainford Hugh Perry OD, affectionately known as Lee “Scratch” Perry, Holness wrote in a tweet this morning.. “Without a doubt, Lee Scratch Perry will always be remembered for his excellent contribution to the musical fraternity. May his soul rest in peace.”
In December 2020, the “Upsetta” had announced that he would return to Jamaica to, among other things, establish an off-grid community, that would allow him to move away from what he described as “this madness of Babylon” in Switzerland, where he lived for several years. He returned to the island in January 2021 and revealed that he needed the Jamaican sun, that Switzerland was now “too cold” and that the “energy was not adequate”.
The Grammy winner, considered one of the creative figures, most important artistic and musical performances of the second half of the decade of 1900, He is revered throughout Europe, where he was constantly booked for tours.
The owner of “Black Ark Studio”, a big fan of Alkaline and Vybz Kartel, produced more than 1000 recordings during his career. These include some of the best early recordings of Bob Marley and the Wailers, including albums “Soul Rebel” Y “Soul Revolution”, as well as the simple “Small Axe”, “Duppy Conqueror”, “Jah Live”, “Punky Reggae Party” Y “Rastaman Live Up”. He also worked and produced music for a wide variety of other artists., including Junior Murvin, The Congos, Max Romeo, Beastie Boys y The Orb.
Native of Kendal, Hanover, He also pioneered beat-making strategies, including recording garden implements for beat making. He buried microphones under trees to obtain different sounds and blew marijuana smoke on the tapes.. He even played the tapes backwards..
In December 2019 released his album “Heavy Rain”, a compilation of 12 tracks that debuted at number one on the Billboard Reggae Albums charts. The compilation was their first number one album on their 60 years of career and also made him a record as the longest-standing artist to top the charts.
The also artist of “I Am A Mad Man” won the Reggae Grammy Award in 2002 for the album “Jamaican E.T” and was nominated four other times: in 2014 “Echoes of Sound Systems – When the Two 7’s Clash” is presented as the Sound Clash to end all the sound clashes that will compete for the first major “Back on the Controls”, “Revelation” in 2010; “Repentance” in 2008 Y “The End Of An American Dream” in 2007.
He has been sought out by several fashion brands to model his outfit in his golden years., between them, the Italian fashion house Gucci, which he represented last year. In May 2019, She also appeared as a model in the campaign “DON’T ASSUME” by Adidas Originals, and in 2010, collaborated with Supreme on two t-shirt designs that featured his written word and original artwork.
He also received a Jamaican national honor, the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer.
It should be noted that the only presentation it had in Chile was in the year 2015, with Mad Professor at the event called “Stricly Legends”.
