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ENTITY · VENUE

Champion House

Probable

A Chinese-Jamaican-owned nightclub in Kingston, run by Thea Sun's grandfather from the 1940s into the 1970s: a courtyard room with a bar, pool tables and a bamboo fence, its music moving from jazz to disco to dancehall over its run. Weekly open-mic Fridays drew a mixed-race crowd across Kingston's racial lines, and its performers included Ernie Ranglin and, before he was famous, a teenage Bob Marley.

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At a glance

Confidence
Probable
Sources
Azeema Magazine, "Three Dancing Suns" (Thea Sun, on her grandfather's club).
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Connections

In stories

Story · Well supportedJamaica's nightclub circuit

Not every Jamaican dance happened under the sky. From 1930s society clubs to Portmore's dancehall rooms, some of it happened behind a cover charge, a bar and a roof.

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Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

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