Lee Perry, an influential Jamaican musician, singer and producer who pushed the boundaries of reggae and dub, has died at the age of 85.
The cause of death was not stated, but Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed the news on Twitter, expressed his condolences to the family and wrote that the reggae visionary had died at the hospital.
“Jamaica has lost a great music icon that has inspired many,” Holnes wrote.
A producer who has worked for a number of musicians, including Bob Marley, he is a person whose talent has transcended time and genre, and his influence has been evident in a variety of genres, from hip hop to post-punk, from “The Beastie Boys ”to“ The Clash ”.
Born on March 20, 1936 in the rural Jamaican city of Kendal, he left school at the age of 15 and moved to Kingston in the 1960s.
– My father was a manual worker and my mother worked in the fields. We were very poor. I went to school but learned nothing. Everything I learned comes from nature. When I left school, I could only work in the field, physical jobs, hard, hard work. I didn’t like it. So I started playing dominoes. Through dominoes I practiced the mind and learned to read the thoughts of others. That proved to be very useful later in life – Perry said for the British music house NME in 1984.
