Prince Buster
b. Cecil Bustamante Campbell, 28 May 1938, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Buster was named after Alexandra Bustamante, the leader of the Jamaican Labour Party, and began his career as a boxer, but soon found his pugilistic talents being put to use as a bouncer/strong-arm man and minder for Coxsone Dodd's Down Beat sound system. Competition was fierce in the early days, with fights frequently breaking out between the supporters of rival sounds, and with wires (and people) being cut regularly; Buster still carries the scars (literally). He claims, like so many others, personally to have invented the ska sound, and he was certainly involved from the very early stages - at first, with his work for Dodd, and after they had parted company, with his own Voice Of The People sound system, record label and shop. His very first recording session produced one of the all-time classics of Jamaican music, "Oh Carolina", with vocals by the Folkes Brothers and musical accompaniment from Count Ossie. Inventive and innovative at the time, the record still sounds every bit as exciting. Buster released countless records both by himself and other top acts on his Wild Bells, Voice Of The People and Buster's Record Shack labels, which were subsequently released in the UK on Blue Beat Records. They proved as popular there as they had been in Jamaica, firstly with the Jamaican community and secondly with the mods, who took Buster to their hearts with songs such as "Al Capone" and "Madness". He toured the UK in the mid-60s to ecstatic crowds and appeared on the hugely popular Ready, Steady, Go! television show.
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- Hard Man Fe Dead
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