WEBVTT - Chris Blackwell 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome, Welcome, welcome back to the Bob West That's podcast. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:17.080 My guest today is truly a llegend. This Blackwellholm Island 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:22.520 Records has a new autobiography, The Islander. Chris. Great to 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.480 have you on the podcast. So, first and foremost, where 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.880 exactly are you right now? I'm in Jamaica, Yes, but 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.720 you own multiple properties in Jamaica, correct, No, just a couple, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:39.080 two or three different properties. The main one is Golden Eye, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:45.240 which Ian Fleming owned originally. And what is the status 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.479 of Golden Eyed today and how is it different from 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.400 when Ian owned it? Well, when Ian owned it too 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:58.160 was just one house. And when he uh pass my 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:03.840 mother looked after the house for a bit, waiting for 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:09.000 his son to come of age and take the ownership. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.640 But sadly his father his son committed suicide and so 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:18.319 the the house just came on the market and my 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.880 mother asked me if I would go out and try 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.720 and buy it. And I was a little short of 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.520 the cash at the moment at the time, but the 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:32.679 person I knew had some cash it was about early 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.120 because I just paid him some fat royalties. So I 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.280 told him that he should go and see it because 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.480 it's a great property and he should have a look 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.440 and see if he liked it. And he went, but 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.360 he said it wasn't his kind of thing. He was 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.160 more street as it were, so he passed on it, 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:57.480 and so I eventually voted. Now you also got involved 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.880 in real estate in Miami South? How did that come 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.279 to pass? That came to pass because I flew down 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:14.160 to Miami to watch a new singer that had come 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:20.120 from Detroit and she was going to do a I 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.919 have I have a sort of video done of her, 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:30.720 and so I went down and I flew into Miami 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.080 and then I went and stayed at the Fronto Lu Hotel. 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.320 But I don't really like big hotel that. I didn't 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.280 like it at all. So I said, I want to 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.720 get out of here, and I rented a car and 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:48.120 drove south. And when I drove south, but by bit 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.440 it became more and more funky and more and more 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.840 broken up and everything, and I couldn't believe it. Here's 0:02:53.840 --> 0:03:00.760 this incredible beach, incredible location, and everything was derelict, and 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.720 I just couldn't believe it. So I wandered around and 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.360 and saw a couple of different places that I thought 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.720 i'd love to buy that, and so that's basically what 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.240 I did. I bought a place called the Marlin. And 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:21.640 then in um in Miami at that time was somebody 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:30.200 called Barbara Julniki who was very super talented designer, creative lady, 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.400 and she was in Miami and I asked her if 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:40.440 if she could help me and design a little um 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.320 you know, a little sort of hotel, and and she did, 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.720 and it was adorable. It really looked just fantastic, and 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.680 very quickly it started to get people coming to it 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.440 a lot. And then I put a studio in it, 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:03.800 and and off we were really great. So what drove 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.960 people to the hotel? Did you saved all your friends? 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.000 Did you put the word out or just people drove 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.920 by into how great it was. I think I think 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.600 it's sort of a bit of both. You know, I 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.320 spoke about a lot about it, tell people about it, 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.400 because it was so extraordinary that, you know, you couldn't 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.120 get a cab to take take take you out there. 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.080 It's very very difficult. It was at a time. It 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.080 was a time soon after remember when Castro sent a 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:41.159 whole lot of um cumans to to Florida or something, 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:43.680 and there was a country. Remember what happened, but I 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.960 know it was a kind of chaos and so no, 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:51.240 but nobody really wanted to go to South Beach, Absolutely 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.719 not at that time. So you know, this has become 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.440 a thing of having studios in a hotel. Is that 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.799 actually marketing? Or does that really work? Having a studio 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.440 in a hotel? Do you know? It works? It works 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:12.120 because you know you've got you can you know in 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.680 the studio, you can get stressed out in the studio 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:17.520 and you really want to sort of take a break 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:19.520 and just go and have a nap for a bit, 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:25.320 and so in that regard it really works. Now you 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.120 ultimately own multiple properties in South Beach. I ended up 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.920 earning about eight, eight or nine of them, eight or nine, 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.960 but ultimately you sold them all. That was a motivation 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.000 to sell them because they had a law in Miami 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.600 at that time that if there was if there was 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:51.200 any stores coming off the eastern coast of Africa, that 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:56.640 one should already start and canceled bookings and cancel all 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.000 kinds of things because that could turn into a huge 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:06.680 which hurricane and cause chaos. So uh, that just didn't 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:11.040 make any sense to me. I mean, you know, hurricanes 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.280 don't come every week, they don't even come every month. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.000 They come now and again. But what would happen is 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.279 that we would still have to do that. We'd have 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.680 to let all the staff go, we'd have to cancel 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.680 the bookings, we have to close the hotel. And I 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.040 thought that just makes no sense at us. So I left. 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:33.080 And did you get out at the right time financially? Um? 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.760 I say, okay, okay. It wasn't that I was trying 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.520 to make a bag of money on it. I was 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:42.320 just wanting to get out of it at that time. 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.560 And it was somebody else who was very interested in 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.800 the latest hotel I did. They were called the Tides, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:58.599 and that was the one which really attracted a buyer. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.000 And and that's what that's what happened. So he bought 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.800 the Tides and or they on the hotels. And when 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.920 you own those hotels and presently your own golden eye, 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.280 how hands on or you were you mostly in the 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.560 design construction phase or when it comes to actually running 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.920 the hotel, where you just pass that off to someone else. 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:27.119 The design, design construction phase really is where I spent 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:32.720 a lot of time because it was great in Jamaica. 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:36.320 It was great land that was sort of had not 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.440 been used, and it was a great It was a 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.640 great opportunity to build something on that land because it 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.640 was right on the water and it had a kind 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:48.960 of lagoon in the middle of it, and everything was 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:53.880 really beautiful. So at this point in time, is most 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.240 of your money tied up in Golden Eye or you 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:02.920 pretty diversified, because certainly in your book you talk about financially, uh, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:10.080 periods of great success and then other periods were scratching part. Yes, definitely. 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:12.960 Throughout my life has been up and down all the time. 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:18.280 Just similarly, you know, it has been nothing slow and 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.480 steady and solid. It's been up and downe And so 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.880 at this late date, how are you doing financially? Um, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.400 not too bad considering you know what's going on in 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:36.040 the world right now. Not too bad. People really like 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.800 five really like a girl and I and I didn't 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.040 mention Fireflyer. Is that place really close to a Golden 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.440 I called five Flyer where nol Coward lived. And that's 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:53.000 a beautiful property, which is um, you know, adjacent to 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.839 where we are, and it's about a thousand on feet 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:01.320 up and it's that's really beautiful. But most of the 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:06.320 time right now, I'm spending it tonight. So I grew 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.040 up on the East Coast, and I remember in the 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.680 sixties Jamaica was a place that people went on a 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.000 holiday and they bought property there, and it was all 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.400 beach and vacation orient And then of course in the seventies, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.160 uh to a great degree, as a result of your work, 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:28.599 a completely different picture of Jamaica comes across. What is 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.720 Jamaica like today? There's Kingston, but there's a beach. Give 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.960 us a feel for the country. Well, I think Jamaica 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.040 is grace at the moment. I think Jamaica has good 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:45.880 management now. Really in general, I think it's doing really, 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:52.440 really quite well. And it's it doesn't sort of markets 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:59.199 a huge amount, but it's a it's definitely markets. The 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.040 the hotels are available, and there are a lot of 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:07.720 hotels in Jamaica in different locations. There's so many different 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:12.360 parts of Jamaica which are uniquely different. You feel like 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:17.199 you're in a another island. Um because you know, some 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.360 some of the some of the land in Jamaica goes 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:24.080 up to seven thousand feet and some m hm. So 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.120 it's it's very very you know. And then you go 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.920 into the mountains, you can stop by where the people 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:36.439 are growing coffee, you know, and get buy some coffee 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.560 from them, and you know, it's it's a it's a 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:44.360 great great countries. It's full of life. Okay, to what 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:49.120 degree do the city and the locals interact with the 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:56.640 beaches and the tourist areas, um, well, some I mean 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.400 some people, some people love to go to the beach, 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.199 go to swim, and some of them, some of them 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:05.880 really don't really care too much about it. They prefer 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.160 to go in the hills, or in the or in 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:15.199 the pastures or you know the country part in internal. 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:21.440 So Jamaica just has so much variety literally that you know, 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:26.680 you can you can spend a day driving across Jamaica 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:32.560 and you see so many different different things different firstly, 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:39.680 you know, different people, different different sort of towns and cities. Everything. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:45.800 It's it's it's very different, and it's very it's very 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.120 I didn't know. It's kind of fun. You know, the 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.920 people have fun. The people. The people have a strong 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:58.000 kind of character, but strong personality, and there's you feel 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.920 that energy from the people. I certainly do, and I 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.880 think I think most people do who come and visit. Okay, 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:10.199 certainly a couple of decades ago, Jamaica had a reputation 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:14.839 as being dangerous. Is it dangerous today or only dangerous 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:19.280 in certain areas? Well that in that period, which was 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.440 the seventies the late seventies, there was a lot of 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:29.400 political problems, you know, and so anti American or pro 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.240 American or pro Castrow, you know, there was a lot 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.520 of that going on at that time, and that's split 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.280 the country a little bit, and so that was not 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.679 a good time. And there was there was a lot 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:47.559 of problems then. But it's not like that now. It's 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:52.520 not like that now. It's much more settled. Okay, So 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.880 you're growing up in Jamaica. Are you living the life 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:59.920 of a coddled rich kid? Are you integrating with the locals? 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.080 What was your life like? Well, I grew up, I 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.920 was you know, I was born in London and I 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.559 arrived in Jamaica when I was about six months old 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:15.560 and then came by sea, and I grew up in 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:19.960 great luxury. Really the house that I grew up in 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:24.080 was you know, a big house and lots of stuff 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.520 and it was, you know, very luxurious in a way. 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.160 But the problem was that I was sick all the time. 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:35.520 I had very bad asthma, and so really I didn't 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:40.160 spend any time with other children, or didn't go to 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:45.360 any parties, or didn't go to anything much. Pretty much 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:51.040 was just stayed in in in one place. So at 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.000 what age did you end up going to school in 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:57.160 the UK and what's that experience like. Well, I was 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:05.520 sent to education in England mainly because my father's mother, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:11.040 I was a Catholic, and she insisted that my father 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.920 have me educated as a Catholic. So I went to 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:21.920 a Catholic school which was miserable. It was in London, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:28.320 just outside London, between London and with Windsor near a river, 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.480 so the weather was just about the worst weather for 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.800 somebody who had asked me the last thing you need 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:40.880 to have is a damn wet ah, you know environment. 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.400 And I was very sick there. And also I didn't 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.600 get on with them there and they didn't get on 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.600 with me. Didn't work at all. Well, I was only 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:54.880 there really for one one and a half terms. I 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.280 got fired because I asked if my dog go to 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.640 heaven and they said, of course, do come here to 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.680 have and they took me just to leave school and 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.400 you went back to Jamaica. Did you go back to school? 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:10.760 We're done with school. I went back to Jamaica and 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:14.320 I was at school for one term at the school 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.880 in Jamaica. Then I was sent back to England and 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.720 on this occasion it was two Broadstairs in Kent, which 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.840 is a much more healthy environment right on the sea, 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.080 and that was much better. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.120 that that period very much, of course, at Peter's Court 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:37.680 and in broad Stairs, Kent. And then from that I 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:42.360 was able to get into posh school called Harrow, and 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:48.480 again got into that school only because my family, um 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:54.440 Blackwell family started acrossing Blackwell, which was a big sort 0:15:54.480 --> 0:16:00.000 of food firm back in my day, and and there 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:04.800 are offices were very close to Harrow, so the you 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:09.880 know that that family were embedded in in Harrow school 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:14.600 as it were. So I went to Harrow and I 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:19.360 didn't really do too well there. Um, I didn't really 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:25.080 and I didn't really do too there at all. In fact, 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:29.160 I was sort of not exactly fired, but it was 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.960 suggested that I might be happier elsewhere. Okay, so you're 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.720 going to school, what kind of kid you are? Are you? 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:41.120 Are you a ring leader, you're a loner? Your sports person? 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:48.800 What we like? Uh? Probably none of those that are 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:53.280 not not? Not Really, I wasn't. I wasn't a big troublemaker. 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:58.640 I didn't think I was. I got into trouble there 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.000 because I used to go down and by liquor and 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:05.399 cigarettes and self to the other kids, which I never 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:11.399 touched liquor was cigarettes personally, but I used to do that, 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:16.520 and I I got caught on that, and it was 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.200 suggested that I might be happier elsewhere if I moved 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.920 from there. So, unless they were, I was sixteen, I think. 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.399 And did you have any more schooling after that? Y? 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:33.640 M hm. And you come from a prestigious, wealthy family. 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.439 What do they think about their son who is not 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:40.680 really achieving in school and doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Well, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.879 my mother was always hoping. She was very good. She 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.199 was always hoping that then you know, improve of it, 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:52.080 and she was really helpful. My father wasn't so on 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.280 top of it, as it were. He was somewhat of 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.600 a wild man, and he was he was great, but 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.479 he was and term he wasn't sort of chasing me 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.560 up or giving me a hard time or anything. So 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:11.000 my mom was the one who was sort of in charge. 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.160 So you come back to Jamaica, you're not going to school, 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.679 what do you do? Trying to find something to do 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.040 different things. One of the things was I was trying 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:29.800 to bring in some scooters. I bought some scooters in 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.760 England to sell in Jamaica. And I did that for 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.080 a little bit, and then I did some I got 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.159 a job working in real estate, so I worked in 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:47.600 real estate for a little bit. M hm. And what 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.960 else did I do? Just just the kind of things 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.480 you'd expect. It's like an opportunity to do for something 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.760 and you kind of like it. You just kind of 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.639 join it and get involved in it, I guess. And 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:04.920 m h. That's that's really what what I was, what 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.520 I was doing, and the thing which really pulled me in, 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:15.560 of course, it was music because at Harrow. When I 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.119 was at Harrow, I made friends with somebody who really 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:23.520 had a great music collection. He had the music right 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:28.960 from the sort of earliest period, New Orleans and music. 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.840 And for a long time I was addicted to two 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:38.200 music from New Orleans and and and jazz for sure. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.360 I just love I just love that. And so when 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.479 I was in Jamaica this time, later on, I started 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:50.199 to go to see shows and things. And then, you know, 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:56.159 one day, as said to I think I'd probably had 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.280 a couple of drinks, it said to the band after 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:01.360 they had finished playing. I said, oh, well, I think 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:03.879 you guys were great. I'd love to record you guys, 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.520 you know, And I didn't know how to record anybody. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.000 I didn't know anything about it. I just liked their 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:14.280 music at all. So a couple of days later, you know, 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.320 a couple of them passed by and said, well, anything 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.399 happening about this recording? And I said, oh, I'm sorry, yeah, 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:25.560 well not definitely, definitely going to do it. Do it tomorrow. 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:28.120 So that's what I did, and I rented the car 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:34.200 the next day, van Volkswagen Van. And at that time 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:39.600 I was teaching water skiing. That was my job that 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.560 I'd made god for myself as a water ski instructor 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.240 at the Halfmoon Hotel, and which is where the band 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.800 was playing. So when I drove into town, I went 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:56.320 to the studio. I knew the person who owned the studio, 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:01.959 and we went in and then the band played the 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.879 first tune and then they all looked up at me, 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:06.560 and I didn't know what to look. I didn't know 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:09.520 what to do. I was and I just had no 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:11.560 idea what to do. I couldn't believe that I was 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:17.600 actually just sitting there and hearing this music they made. 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:24.520 And so the leader of the band was blind, and 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:28.040 he asked me, he said that would you like us 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:33.560 to do it again? And then said yeah, okay, and 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.560 he started playing again. And then when he started playing again, 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.080 I knew that that's what I wanted to do the 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:52.119 rest of man, Okay, this entrepreneurial spirit, where did it 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:57.840 come from? I don't know. I really didn't know. I 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:03.399 don't know. Particularly I my mother's family. They were in 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:09.360 the you know, bananas and coconuts, the steets and and 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.280 and the wrong business too. In fact, I was supposed 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:20.440 to inherit the wrong business. Um, but my two uncles 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:26.520 quarreled and tell apart, and and so the rom got 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:33.119 sold to someone else, and um, I found myself with 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:37.560 you know, that was not going to be in the 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.879 roun business. So that I remember when it happened, I 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:45.600 was kind of I wasn't hugely upset because I was 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:50.639 already embedded in music. You know, and hanging around with 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:55.960 musicians and and you know, and working with people and 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:58.399 coming trying to come up with ideas and putting together 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:02.560 bands and things like that. Did you ever inherit any 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.200 money from either side of your family? But by time 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:07.919 it came, by time they died, was it all gone? 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:18.560 H By the time they died, it was, yes, it 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:25.440 was pretty much gone. Pretty much gone. Um, pretty much gone. 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:30.199 My my my mother was was was fine, you know, 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:36.080 she had a nice home Jamaica, and and it was 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:39.560 but but the Linda family which was the name of 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:42.240 the family, which were the run people, it sort of 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:49.320 collapsed and in that and that at that time. And 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:53.360 so did I say, I was just from from from 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:59.439 then on? I mean I was just in vote in music, 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:03.959 you know, I was an addict. So how much did 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:06.760 it cost to make that record? And how successful was it? 0:24:06.800 --> 0:24:10.040 And how did you sell it? The first record? Yeah, 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:16.400 the one with the blind pianists? Well, uh, how much 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:24.840 does it costs? Oh, less than a thousand dollars lessen yeah, 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:29.360 lessen five? Everything. It wasn't It wasn't most The main 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:33.440 expense was flying up to New York too to get 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:38.080 the album made and get it mastered, made, and then 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:42.840 broke back to Jamaica. And then I get got the 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:47.520 manufactured in Jamaica and the pressing plant and so the 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:51.359 records at the hotel and did you make your money back? 0:24:51.520 --> 0:25:00.240 Was it profitable or no? Not not profitable. That's I 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:03.160 knew that's what I wanted to do. You know, there 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:05.200 was no doubt that that's what I wanted to do 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:10.000 in my life. It was for sure. What was the 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:14.040 next step? Then, Well, the next step was that I'd 0:25:14.040 --> 0:25:18.359 go and go too shows. When there were shows that 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:25.240 would have happen in cinemas. Cinemas would would you know, 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:29.080 run a kind of a show where somebody would come 0:25:29.080 --> 0:25:32.919 out and lead the show, and and they would have 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:36.919 booked three or four different bands or different individual singers 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:42.359 or whatever for the show. And so I went to 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:47.280 one of those and there was this guy saying and 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:49.120 I thought, my god, this guy has got a really 0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:51.760 good voice. His voice is very much like Brook Benton. 0:25:51.840 --> 0:25:54.800 At that time, Brook Benton was one of my very 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:59.119 favorite artists. And I listened to it and I really 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:02.919 liked it. And and when the show was over, I 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:05.440 went backstage and I went to see him and they said, oh, 0:26:05.480 --> 0:26:09.240 I'd like, I'd like to record you know, I think 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:13.320 you sound really good. You sound like And there was 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:17.919 another singer around just who came up and said, well 0:26:17.760 --> 0:26:21.000 what about me? And then another person came around and 0:26:21.000 --> 0:26:27.359 said what about and and so I ended up recording 0:26:27.400 --> 0:26:35.160 those three guys. And the first guy was a guy 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:38.639 called Laura Ankin, and I put I put his art 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:42.960 was called Boogie in My Bones, and it went to 0:26:43.080 --> 0:26:47.720 number one in Jamaica. And then I put out the 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:53.040 other guy's record and it went to number one a 0:26:53.080 --> 0:26:57.120 couple of weeks after that, and then released the other 0:26:57.160 --> 0:27:01.840 record and that went to number one. And the reason 0:27:02.840 --> 0:27:05.240 these records all went to number one is not because 0:27:05.280 --> 0:27:10.200 they were masterpieces or anything. It was more because Jamaicans 0:27:10.240 --> 0:27:18.239 were hearing Jamaican's singing um rather than singing Calypso's or um. 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:23.320 You know, cultural music. They were they were they were 0:27:24.680 --> 0:27:30.639 they were sort of hearing music as if it might 0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:33.840 have been coming from America a bit something like that. 0:27:34.880 --> 0:27:41.280 So that's really how it started and continued to grow. 0:27:42.040 --> 0:27:48.200 I mean, all the records I put out really did well. 0:27:48.560 --> 0:27:51.520 I mean it was amazing. Uh And as I say, 0:27:51.600 --> 0:27:54.480 but it's just because of the reason I just gave 0:27:54.520 --> 0:28:01.040 you because it was, um, Jamaican's listen to Jamaican's there. 0:28:02.359 --> 0:28:06.800 And then when things started to expand was that when 0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:12.600 England started to want the records from Jamaican. So I 0:28:12.680 --> 0:28:15.760 used to shipp them to a guy who had the 0:28:15.840 --> 0:28:20.920 jazz label in England who he released them for me 0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:26.680 and they sold in England. So then as we were 0:28:26.720 --> 0:28:33.320 now in nineteen sixty one, um in nineteen six two 0:28:33.400 --> 0:28:38.000 is when Jamaica became independent, and in view of my complexion, 0:28:38.040 --> 0:28:40.120 I thought, well, maybe that was the time to go 0:28:40.160 --> 0:28:46.040 to so so UM, I went to England and I 0:28:46.200 --> 0:28:50.520 spoke to all the other DJs and sound system guys 0:28:50.600 --> 0:28:53.560 and producers and everybody and said, you know, I'm going 0:28:53.600 --> 0:28:57.360 to England. I'm going to you know, make these This 0:28:57.560 --> 0:29:02.760 music happened in England, and um, all the people kind 0:29:02.800 --> 0:29:05.840 of supported me in Jamaica, which was which was great. 0:29:05.920 --> 0:29:09.840 Unless they supported me, I mean, they'd send their recordings 0:29:09.880 --> 0:29:13.440 for me and I put them out and I had 0:29:13.440 --> 0:29:19.520 the right. The best time in England was just driving 0:29:19.560 --> 0:29:23.280 around the periphery of London in the areas where that 0:29:23.440 --> 0:29:28.040