Apprenticed to the sound: the deejay ladder

1966 single by Sir Lord Comic and His Cowboys, frequently cited among the first deejay records, translating the toasting style he had honed on the Admiral Deans sound system onto disc.

Sir George was a London reggae sound system based in Clapton, noted for a long-running residency at Cubies in Dalston Junction. Rather than the roots reggae favoured by many contemporaries, it specialised in lovers rock for a new generation of London-born Caribbean youth, with musician Anthony Brightly (formerly of the band Black Slate) helping build its reputation.

Ewart Beckford (1942-2021), the deejay who made toasting a recorded form. He had been talking over records on the sound systems for years — with Dickie Dynamic, Sir George the Atomic, and most importantly on Coxsone Dodd's Downbeat — when Duke Reid put him on the Treasure Isle rocksteady rhythms in 1970. The results took over the Jamaican charts, at one point reportedly holding the top three positions at once with "Wake the Town", "Rule the Nation" and "Wear You to the Ball", and the album Version Galore made the form permanent. What he established was that a deejay's voice over an existing rhythm was a record in its own right, not a novelty: everything from Jamaican deejaying to rap descends in part from those sessions. He ran his own Stur-Gav Hi-Fi from the late 1970s, the sound that gave Josey Wales and Charlie Chaplin their start, and recorded into his final years. He was awarded the Order of Distinction and died on 17 February 2021.

Kingston sound system operated by Dickie Wong, earlier known as Doctor Dickies; it is remembered as the set on which a teenage U-Roy began deejaying professionally in 1961 before he moved on to Sir George the Atomic.

Big Youth (Manley Augustus Buchanan, born 19 April 1949) is a Jamaican deejay and toaster who became one of the most influential vocalists of 1970s roots reggae, known for a melodic, chanting, Rastafari-infused style. His 1973 debut album Screaming Target, produced by Gussie Clarke, set the benchmark for deejay albums and helped transform the deejay from party hype-man into a serious social and spiritual voice. He ranks alongside U-Roy, I-Roy and Dennis Alcapone among the foundational toasters whose approach influenced later dancehall and hip-hop.

Late-1950s Kingston sound system remembered as the set where Percival "Sir Lord Comic" Wauchope worked first as a star dancer and then, from about 1959, as a toaster in the style pioneered by Count Machuki.

El Paso Hi-Fi was a Kingston sound system based in the Brotherton Avenue area of West Kingston in the late 1960s and 1970s, its name borrowed from the Marty Robbins country hit. It is chiefly remembered as the sound where deejay Dennis Alcapone launched his career around 1967-68, helping establish the toasting style of the early deejay era.

Dennis Alcapone (Dennis Asquith Smith, born 1947 in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a Jamaican deejay and one of the original toasters who rose to prominence in the early 1970s. Inspired by King Tubby's Home Town Hi-Fi and U-Roy, he founded the El Paso sound system in 1969 with friends before recording for producers including Keith Hudson, Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, Duke Reid and Bunny Lee. His bright, exuberant vocal style made him among the most popular deejays of the era before he relocated to England.

Kingston 5 sound system of the mid-1970s, headquartered off Lyndhurst Road; it began as Soul Attorney under owner Rupert "Rupie" Brown, carried deejays including U Brown, Ranking Trevor, Jah Mikey and Nicodemus with selector Danny Dread, and was later acquired by Tony Welch and renamed Socialist Roots.

Winston 'Count Machuki' Cooper (1939-1995) is regarded as Jamaica's first deejay: he began chatting live jive over records on Tom the Great Sebastian's sound in the early 1950s and later became the voice of Coxsone Dodd's Downbeat, directly inspiring U-Roy and the toasting tradition.

Lord Tippertone (originally the community sound Fingertone, run by a man called Finger) was a leading early-1970s Kingston sound system known for exclusive Studio One dubplates and skilled selection. Big Youth became its resident deejay around 1970, later rebranding it 'His Mightiness Emperor Lord Tippertone', while Jah Stitch made his name as its selector before disputes drove him to the Black Harmony set.

Jamaican deejay who began as a champion dancer with the Admiral Deans sound system before toasting on the set from about 1959; his 1966 single "Ska-ing West" is cited among the first deejay records, and he later cut "The Great Wuga Wuga" and worked with Lee "Scratch" Perry.