Nineteen sixty-two was a big year for Jamaica and Chis Blackwell alike. The country gained its independence and hosted the first James Bond movie, Dr No, on which Blackwell worked as a fixer, recommending locations and recruiting his musician friends as grips, extras, even as musicians. So impressed was co-producer Harry Saltzman that he offered Blackwell a job as his PA. The 25-year-old wavered; he was already knee-deep in Jamaica’s frantic music industry and about to leave the island to establish his own label, Island, in London. Only after consulting “a downtown Lebanese soothsayer” did he choose music ahead of film.
His decision was the world’s good fortune. Over the next 40 years Blackwell helped revolutionise popular music, his label becoming a byword for uncompromised artistry and era-shaping acts. In the 60s came Traffic, Cat Stevens, Free, Fairport Convention and Nick Drake, followed by Roxy Music, U2, Robert Palmer and Grace Jones. Then there are the passing oddballs (Sparks, Frankie Goes to Hollywood), venerable bohos such as Tom Waits, and always there was reggae; from Millie Small’s 1964 international smash My Boy Lollipop, two minutes of teenage joy, to Bob Marley, the downtown rebel who became the first developing nation superstar.
