Chris Blackwell

Who Is He? Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell was born on 22 June 1937 in Westminster, London. Blackwell's father, Joseph, who was English, was related to the founder of Crosse & Blackwell, purveyors of jarred foods and relishes, and had some residual wealth. His mother, the former Blanche Lindo, was born in Costa Rica, of Sephardic Jewish ancestry. She belonged to a powerful family who made their fortune in sugar and Appleton Rum toward the end of slavery. The Lindo’s are named as one of the 21 families who controlled Jamaica in the 20th century. After the divorce of his parents when he was at the age of twelve Chris spent his childhood in Jamaica, where his mother had ancestral roots, then was sent to Britain to continue his education at the posh English boarding school in Harrow.

What Got Him Into Entrepreneurship? He decided not to attend university and as such, returned to Jamaica to become aide-de-camp to Jamaica's Governor, Sir Hugh Foot. After Foot was transferred to Cyprus, Blackwell left King's House to pursue a career in real estate and other businesses which brought him into contact with the Jamaican music community. In 1958, Blackwell was sailing off Hellshire Beach when his boat ran aground on a coral reef. The twenty-one-year-old swam to the coast and attempted to find help along the shore in searing temperatures. Collapsing on the beach, Blackwell was rescued by Rasta fishermen who tended his wounds and restored him back to health with traditional Ital food. The experience gave Blackwell a spiritual introduction to Rastafarianism, and was a key to his connection to the culture and its music.

What Is He Known For? Blackwell’s life has so many amazing facets it’s hard to know where to begin. With an initial investment of $10,000, he formed a record label in 1959, calling it Island Records (after the Alec Waugh novel Island in the Sun), which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". Radio personality Graeme Goodall was his initial business partner. Blackwell received an allowance of £2,000 per year from his mother, which enabled him to have his own apartment at a young age and build on the low revenue that the business was bringing in. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which Blackwell was inducted in 2001, he is "the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music."

Cont’d At the age of 22, Blackwell was amongst the first to record the Jamaican popular music that eventually became known as ska. Island's debut release was a piano and vocal album by Bermudian jazz pianist Lance Hayward. Blackwell began recording Jamaican popular music and scored a Number One hit on the island with Laurel Aitken’s “Little Sheila.” By 1962 he had issued two albums and twenty-six singles on his Island imprint. Chris formally incorporated Island Records that year then returned to England to oversee the business where he started having success with the niche market of Jamaican music.

Cont’d Blackwell acted as a location scout and production assistant for the Bond film Dr No (1962). After the film wrapped, producer Harry Saltzman offered him a full-time position. Conflicted between music and film, Blackwell visited a psychic, who told him that he would be successful if he stayed in the music industry. One of these contained a performance by fifteen-year-old Millie Small, who Blackwell brought over to England. In 1964, he produced Small's cover of a 1956 Barbie Gaye song "My Boy Lollypop" which was one of the first songs recorded in the ska style. Millie Small's version was a smash hit, selling over six million records worldwide. It launched Island Records into mainstream popular music, and is acknowledged as the first international ska hit.

Cont’d Backed by Stanley Borden from RKO, Blackwell's business and reach grew substantially, and he went on to forge the careers of Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Steve Winwood and U2 amongst many other diverse high-profile acts. He has produced many seminal albums, including Marley's Catch A Fire and Uprising and The B-52's' self-titled debut album in 1979. It is said that he took a chance with Bob Marley that most people would not have taken. “Bob Marley was a gamble,” Blackwell told Nigel Williamson of the Los Angeles Times Magazine. “I gave him £4,000 upfront to make the first album. Everybody said I was mad and I’d never see the money again. I took the risk and trusted him and it paid off many times over.” Aside from being a music producer he has also been in the film business, luxury resorts and lately the high-end rum business of Blackwell’s Black Gold Rum.