Sonia Pottinger was a trailblazing pioneer in Jamaica's male-dominated music industry as she played an important role in the development of popular music in the Caribbean island. She was the first female record producer in Jamaica and her pinnacle came during the 1960s, beginning with the ska era after which she made a transition to rocksteady and finally reggae.
Jamaican music burst onto the international scene with ska hits in the early 1960s. Hits recorded in Jamaica were repackaged to new UK labels like Trojan, which led to Top 20 hits like Millie Small's 1964 My Boy Lollipop, which reached No.2 on both the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 (Pottinger produced some of Small's early singles).
At that time, the Jamaican music scene was dominated by ska and sound system recordings, as well as R&B, Gospel, pop ballads and even mento, the folk music of Jamaica. It was this musical soundscape that Sonia Pottinger and her husband, accountant Lindon Pottinger were attracted to. Both were accountants and their entrepreneurial spirit led them to create several businesses, including a bakery and a bicycle shop. In 1961, Lindon opened a small recording studio, the first set up by a black person, to produce local acts and distribute their singles. Lindon would later own a small vinyl pressing plant.
The labels he set up, including Gaydisc and SEP (the initials of his wife, Sonia) released early singles by The Maytals, Lord Tanamo and a young Mille Small.
In 1964, Lindon sold his recording equipment to producer Duke Reid, and shortly after the couple separated. With three young children to raise, Sonia Pottinger decided to continue working at something she knew -- producing records. She opened the Tip Top Record Shop at 37 Orange Street (the street for music in Kingston) in 1965 and began producing records in 1966. This was an important transition period as ska was morphing into rocksteady and early reggae. Some of the best songs from this period were recorded by her.
In fact, her first single Every Night by Joe White & Chuck was an award-winning hit and it was followed by JA hits from Roland Alphonso, and later The Ethiopians, Delroy Wilson, Delano Stewart, The Melodians, Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis and, one of my favourites, Toots & The Maytals. She released her singles and albums on the Gay Feet, Tip Top, Rainbow and High Note labels.
Her success in the 1960s provided her with the finances to purchase the back catalogue of Duke Reid's Treasure Island label (her ownership was challenged in court by Reid's great rival Clement "Coxsone" Dodd but she prevailed in a 2009 ruling, just before her death in 2010).
In the 1970s, she worked with key reggae acts like Bob Andy, Marcia Griffiths (Pottinger produced her 1978 album, Naturally, which is widely regarded as her best album), Culture, U Roy and Big Youth. Her most famous production was arguably Culture's excellent Harder Than The Rest album which I bought in 1978 when it came out. I first heard about her work as a producer after purchasing the album and I often play a few tracks from it when I DJ here in Bangkok.
She continued to produce music, even dipping into Dancehall-style, but in the mid-1980s, she decided to retire.
In 1969, Trojan Records released Dancing Down Orange Street, a compilation of her productions that showcased ska, rocksteady and the latest "reggae". The timing was perfect as a ska boom was in progress in the UK and the record spread her name and production skills.
The Dr Bird label reissued the 1969 compilation in 2017 on CD with 13 extra tracks. What is immediately apparent from the selection is the wide range of music she produced. There are no production gimmicks here. Pottinger had an ear for melody and clearly had a love for well-crafted pop songs. Harmony and balance between singer and chorus were always present in these songs, a result of the popularity of Gospel (she had hits with Gospel choirs) MOR and US R&B/soul in Jamaica. After all, Bob Marley began in a harmony/doo-wop group called The Wailers.
You can hear the new sounds emerging in Jamaica on tracks like Ken Boothe's Somewhere and the wonderful Lady With The Starlight, the latter has an almost Nat King Cole vocal line sung soul-style over a pulsing reggae beat -- this is the sound of rocksteady transforming into reggae and Pottinger was one of the first to do this. There are so many good tracks here that it takes a while for it all to soak in (but on the other hand, you can get in some serious dancing practice). To name a few Tony Brevett's Heartaches and Lonely, Patsy's We Were Lovers, and rocksteady legend Delano Stewart with Give Me A Chance.
Doctor Bird released a double CD of her work in 2019, Put On Your Best Dress, which includes some early ska (especially the Rude Boy style) and rocksteady as well as nyahbinghi (spiritual drumming from the Rastafarian religion), soul and mento. There are some MOR ballads, too, and some of these like Give Me A Chance by Delano Stewart & Patsy seem to prefigure the later offshoot from South London, Lover's Rock.
But perhaps the most unusual song on either of these seminal compilations is Pata Pata Rock Steady by Patsy Todd, which is a reggae-fied version of South African singer Miriam Makeba's international hit, Pata Pata.
Both these compilations are highly recommended. If you can't get hold of either, check out the special episode on her music on the nts.live website, which was recently posted.
Although she is not as well known as legendary producers like Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sonia Pottinger was a key pioneer of the JA sound. As Laurence Cane-Honeysett notes on the Trojan website: "During her lifetime, Sonia Pottinger had been instrumental in transforming the Jamaican music industry, successfully overcoming all obstacles to rival her male counterparts in one of the most competitive businesses in the world. By doing so, she proved beyond any doubt that she deserves to be regarded as one of the greatest Jamaican record producers of all time."
Digital Sound Exhibition: "Sum Eud Viek?" is being held at Chulalongkorn University's Art4C gallery (Samyan MRT station) by Dr Danuchate Wisaijorn and Warong Boonaree. The title means "Are You Free" and is a tease for teenagers in the northeast region. The exhibition is a synthesis of mixed media, found sounds, live performance and folk music from the region. From Aug 11-16.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
