Prince Buster

Cecil Bustamente Campbell, a.k.a. Prince Buster, is one of the most crucial artists of the pre-reggae era, literally embodying the transition from the foreign record-dependent sound systems to the development of homegrown Jamaican talent. An ambitious ex-boxer from Kingston's Luke Lane neighborhood, Buster attached himself as a security man to various local sound systems, including Tom the Great Sebastian's and Coxsone Dodd's—for whom he once rescued a young Lee Perry from a rival gang of Duke Reid's thugs—before establishing his own Voice of the People system in 1959.

But the restless Buster wasn't content with merely playing other folks' music, and in 1960 he helped usher in the ska explosion by recording 13 legendary tracks with singer Monty Morris. These tracks, which included the smash "Humpty Dumpty" and a reworking of the Folkes Brothers' mento "Oh Carolina," had a new, distinctly Jamaican flavor and were all immediate hits. They signified Buster's arrival as both a producer and a singer, albeit a singer with a limited range. Throughout the ska era, Buster scored hit after hit, with classics like "Al Capone," "Madness" and "Burke's Law," selling like hotcakes from his Record Shack shop and making a mint for his Voice of the People label.

As the '60s wore on, and Jamaica was engulfed by various pan-Africanist and black consciousness movements, Buster eschewed Rastafarianism for the sterner discipline of the Nation of Islam, and his music became more militant as well. Raunchy, sexually explicit songs like "Rough Rider" and "Big Five" gave way to the Biblical allusions of "Pharaoh House Crash" and "10 Commandments." While in the rocksteady era of the later '60s, Buster weighed in on the Rude Boy phenomenon with 1967's infamous "Judge Dread," which comically reduced Rude Boys to tears by handing out 400-year prison sentences like candy.

Though Prince Buster's star was fading by the dawn of the early '70s roots explosion, he remained an influential presence on the Jamaican music scene through his label and network of record stores, which included a branch in New York. Buster's much-loved music also got a second wind when it was rediscovered during the late '70s ska revival in Britain. Bands like the Specials, the Selecter, the English Beat and Madness all reworked vintage Prince Buster cuts, turning tracks like "Too Hot," "Madness" and "Rough Rider" into anthems for a whole new generation. — Tom Pryor, Courtesy Global Rhythm Magazine: www.globalrhythm.net