Gussie Clarke

Not to be confused with Augusta Clark.
Gussie Clarke
Birth name Augustus Clarke
Origin Kingston, Jamaica
Genres Reggae
Occupation(s) Producer

Augustus "Gussie" Clarke (born 1953) is a reggae producer who worked with some of the top Jamaican reggae artists in the 1970s and later set up his own Music Works studio.

Career

Clarke started working in the music industry by cutting dub plates.[1] He made his debut as a producer in 1972, with U-Roy's "The Higher The Mountain".[2] He established himself as the top producer of deejays in the early 1970s with albums such as Big Youth's Screaming Target, and I-Roy's Presenting I Roy, both regarded as among the best deejay albums ever produced.[1][2][3] Through the 1970s and early 1980s he worked with artists such as Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Augustus Pablo, Leroy Smart, and The Mighty Diamonds, including on the latter's influential "Pass the Kouchie" in 1981. Much of Clarke's output was released on his own Gussy and Puppy labels.[1]

In the late 1980s, Clarke adapted to the new dancehall style of reggae, but stood out from other producers by attempting to produce glossier recordings with greater potential to cross over internationally.[3]

In 1987, while he was still recording at Music Mountain and Dynamic Sounds studio, the first record to bare hints of this newly embraced digital sound came from the release of The Mighty Diamonds' The Real Enemy. "Gang War", the first single off the album released on his Music Works label showcased this new digi-roots style, incorporating keyboard and computer programming driven riddims, compared to the known traditional roots reggae sound with players of live instruments recording in the studio. This release stood out as the first transitional record for Clarke and his production blending old-school roots reggae to the newly embarked digital dancehall riddims to take shape for the coming years.

In 1988 he launched his Music Works studio, equipped and ready to fully adopt the digital reggae era, successfully as a producer returned with hit records and singles for many Jamaican and UK artist alike. He continued to gather some of the best songwriters, musicians, background singers, arrangers, engineers and mixers Jamaica had to offer. By mid-year, the first full-length albums to showcase the masterfully crafted, dominant sounds of the Music Works studio, was The Mighty Diamonds' Get Ready and Gregory Isaacs' Red Rose For Gregory, and both released just months apart. The latter of the two saw the spawn of the monumental "Rumours" track described as a hard-hitting, bass-heavy driven electro-dancehall stomp. To great success, Clarke produced several artists off the following Rumours aka Telephone Love one riddim compilation and generated heavy Jamaican radio rotation off other tracks showcased on the Music Works Showcase '88 release. To an enthusiastic changing and accepting reggae music market, thus began the new sound of '90s Jamaica.

Soon many artists and producers were turning up and securing studio time to record at the newly rebuilt recording studio. Gregory Isaacs' "Rumours" produced by Clarke, was the biggest hit on the island during the summer of 1988.[3] J.C Lodge's "Telephone Love", using the same "Rumours" riddim, was the biggest reggae hit of the same year in the United States. This hit single led to Gussie producing a full-length album for Lodge in 1990 titled Selfish Lover, which saw her team up with young dancehall sensation Shabba Ranks on the duet "Hardcore Loving", and later again with Shabba Ranks on "Telephone Love Deh Pond Mi Mind" off his full-length album release Rappin' With The Ladies.

In 1989 Clarke reunited two of the most influential reggae artists, Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs, to record a full-length studio album titled No Contest. Off this extraordinary release came the massive radio hit "Big All Around" – a hard-hitting ragga dancehall anthem. Following this same trend of "pairings", Gussie continued on the path with much success in Home T, Cocoa Tea & Shabba Ranks full-set album and on the anthemic hit singles "Pirates Anthem" and "Stop Spreading Rumours". Followed by a "3 the-hard-way" style, Gussie produced the digi-roots album Legit for Freddie McGregor, Dennis Brown and Cocoa Tea, which was released several years later. Gussie produced UK artist Deborahe Glasgow's self-titled album and spawned multiple radio hits. One massive hit titled "Champion Lover" stood out and was later paired with Shabba Ranks for a cut to the same riddim titled "Mr. Loverman".[1] UK artist Maxi Priest's "Just A Little Bit Longer" became an international hit, as was Shabba Ranks & Krystal's "Twice My Age". Many hits were coming out of the Music Works studio stable and Clarke continued to be a high-profile producer way into the late 1990s working with an ensemble of Jamaican reggae artists such as Tiger, Lady G, Papa San, Cocoa Tea, Freddie McGregor, and UK artists such as the mentioned Maxi Priest, the trio group Aswad and Jazz Saxophonist Courtney Pine.[1][2]

Many of Clarke's releases were issued on his own record labels Anchor and Music Works, as well on the Greensleeves, VP, Pow Wow and Shanachie labels.

In the mid-'90s, he predominantly released albums on the Gone Clear Distribution label for newcomer artists such as Daddy Rings with the herbalist ragga tune, and in combination style with Cocoa Tea, "Herb Fi Bun", female dancehall diva Sasha, veteran reggae saxophonist and longtime musical associate Dean "Cannon" Fraser, and a reunited appearance effort with The Mighty Diamonds for the rare and under-rated album release Stand Up. Some of Clarke's mid- to late '90s releases were still licensed to record labels such as Ambassador Music, Greensleeves and VP Records. Soon after his final produced full-length album for the late Dennis Brown, titled Stone Cold World in 1999 for VP Records, Clarke's productions quietened, with the occasional one-off single or re-issue compilation formats of previously released material re-sequenced and repackaged.

In 2006, Clarke produced the one-riddim compilation album Consuming Fire for VP Records' Riddim Driven series. Per the back cover sleeve notes and following the Riddim Driven series for VP, he was scheduled to release two additional riddim compilations called Ocotogan and Groove Master. However, these have not been released yet. The same year saw him as co-producer for international star Rihanna's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" released off her Girl Like Me studio album.

In October 2014 the Institute of Jamaica awarded Clarke a bronze Musgrave Medal for his contribution to music.[4][5]

Original albums produced by Clarke

Original 7", 12" or cd format song listings and/or singles produced by Clarke

Compilations of Clarke's productions

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Larkin, Colin (1998), "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9.
  2. 1 2 3 Thompson, Dave (2002), "Reggae & Caribbean Music", Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-655-6.
  3. 1 2 3 Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004), The Rough Guide to Reggae, Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Howard (2014) "Winkler, Germain and Gussie get medals", Jamaica Observer, 9 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Richard (2014) "Musgrave Winners Lauded", Jamaica Observer, 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.

External links

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