ENTITY · PERSON

Arthur "Duke" Reid

Well supported

Arthur Reid (1915-1975), policeman turned liquor merchant, sound-system owner and producer. His Trojan sound contested the late-1950s dances with Coxsone's Downbeat, and from his Bond Street premises he built Treasure Isle into the defining rocksteady operation — Alton Ellis, the Techniques, the Paragons, Phyllis Dillon — before opening his rhythms to U-Roy's toasting in 1970 and helping launch the deejay record.

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At a glance

Type: person →
Era: Rocksteady, reggae and dub →
Confidence: Well supported

Connections

In stories

Story · Well supportedThe electronics men and the birth of the sound system

Before there were selectors and deejays, there was the amplifier, and the men who built it.

Story · Well supportedThe producer owned the riddim

In Jamaica's foundation years the man who paid for the session owned the sound - and often the shop, the studio and the label too.

Story · ProbableThe Downbeat and the Trojan: How Two Kingston Rivals Built the Sound System

In 1950s Kingston, Coxsone Dodd's Downbeat and Duke Reid's Trojan turned rival dances into the foundation of an entire music industry.

Story · Well supportedWake the Town: Duke Reid's rocksteady and the birth of the deejay record

How a toast over a Treasure Isle rhythm helped invent the modern deejay.

Story · Well supportedOne riddim, many voices: how the version built Jamaican music

In Jamaica the rhythm track, not the finished song, is the durable unit of creativity.