Lee "Scratch" Perry

Known for his wildly unconventional persona and a body of work that often veered into the bizarre, Lee "Scratch" Perry stands among reggae’s most inventive and far-reaching creators. Techniques he pioneered, ranging from early sampling methods to disorienting layers of echo and reverb, opened pathways for later experimenters across electronic music and alternative/post-punk circles, while his loose, associative approach to vocals helped lay groundwork for rap. Producing and singing since the early 1960s, he played a pivotal role in moving Jamaican sounds from ska and rocksteady toward reggae, notably through the 1968 single “People Funny Boy.” In the following decade he emerged as a leading producer, overseeing landmark recordings by Bob Marley & the Wailers, the Congos, and Junior Murvin, while also issuing dub projects such as Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle (1973) and Super Ape (1976), frequently attributed to his group the Upsetters. His music gained traction in the United Kingdom, where a partnership with the Clash expanded his reach. By the close of the 1980s he was collaborating regularly with dub specialists including Mad Professor and Adrian Sherwood. Releases like the 1997 compilation Arkology, alongside praise from alternative artists such as the Beastie Boys, solidified his iconic standing through the 1990s. He stayed prolific across the first twenty years of the twenty-first century, performing regularly and working with figures that included Andrew W.K. on 2008’s Repentance and the Orb on 2012’s The Orbserver in the Star House, as well as revisiting past material on 2017’s Super Ape Returns to Conquer. The posthumous collection King Perry, drawn from his final studio sessions, appeared in 2024.

Perry entered the world in the Jamaican countryside village of Kendal in 1936 and launched his singular musical path in the late 1950s by assisting ska artist Prince Buster in selling records for Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s Downbeat Sound System. Nicknamed “Little” Perry on account of his small frame—he stood 4'11"—he soon moved into production and recording at Studio One, the heart of Jamaica’s music scene. Following a dispute with Dodd, a pattern of severed ties that recurred throughout his career, he joined Wirl Records under Joe Gibbs. The two clashed repeatedly, prompting Perry to depart in 1968 and establish his own Upsetter label. Its debut single, “People Funny Boy,” served as a pointed rebuke of Gibbs. Beyond strong sales in Jamaica, the track introduced the relaxed, bass-heavy rhythm that would define the reggae “riddim” and mark the transition from the brisk energy of ska to the deeper pulse of “roots” reggae.

Throughout the 1970s Perry issued a remarkable volume of material under his own name and an array of inventive aliases—Jah Lion, Pipecock Jakxon, Super Ape, the Upsetter, and the best-known moniker Scratch. Numerous singles from this era, among them instrumentals such as “The Return of Django,” “Clint Eastwood,” and “The Vampire,” became major successes in Jamaica and the United Kingdom, reinforcing his stature as a central figure in reggae. Growing ever more flamboyant in his declarations and appearance—his thrift-store ensembles rivaled only by those of Sun Ra—Perry and his house band, also called the Upsetters, worked with nearly every major Jamaican performer. After encountering King Tubby’s pioneering dub experiments in the early 1970s, he embraced the style himself, rapidly producing numerous dub recordings and eventually founding his own Black Ark studio.

At Black Ark, Perry produced and recorded early landmark tracks for Bob Marley, employing the Upsetters rhythm section of bassist Aston “Familyman” Barrett and drummer Carlton Barrett to capture powerful Wailers performances including “Duppy Conqueror” and “Small Axe.” The partnership ended abruptly when Perry sold the tapes to Trojan Records without the group’s knowledge. Island Records executive Chris Blackwell promptly signed the Wailers exclusively, leaving Perry with little. He charged Blackwell, a white Englishman, with cultural imperialism and accused Marley of complicity; for years he labeled Blackwell a vampire and claimed Marley had courted politicians for quick profit. Setbacks did not slow his output of new recordings or the steady stream of compilations. His influence widened further through work with the Clash, admirers who had covered the Perry-produced Junior Murvin classic “Police and Thieves.” Perry contributed production to several Clash tracks, though the band ultimately remixed them to their preference.

The relentless pace took a toll on Perry’s already delicate psychological equilibrium, culminating in a breakdown. Tales of instability were amplified by reports of heavy substance use, despite his stated opposition to all drugs except sacramental ganja. Accounts blended fact and legend, yet one verified event was the complete destruction of Black Ark by fire. Descriptions of the cause differ, though one version holds that Perry set the studio ablaze in a rage, believing Satan had taken residence there. Soon afterward, disillusioned with the Jamaican music industry, he left the country.

Despite earlier hardships, Perry maintained a steady pace of activity. While production work slowed, his own recordings stayed vital, and his impact resonated in the dub of Mad Professor as well as post-rave electronic scenes, particularly jungle and drum’n’bass. The Beastie Boys acknowledged him in a lyric on Ill Communication, invited him to perform at a Tibetan Freedom Concert, and featured him on the Hello Nasty track “Dr. Lee, PhD.” Island issued the well-received three-disc Arkology compilation in 1997. That year also saw the release of Technomajikal, a collaboration with Dieter Meier of Yello, on the Roir label, made feasible by Perry’s relocation to Switzerland.

Perry returned to Trojan in 2002 with the album Jamaican E.T. Two years later he recorded Panic in Babylon with the European group White Belly Rats, while Hip-O Select issued a limited-edition reissue of Super Ape. The 1973 album Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle, sometimes titled Blackboard Jungle Dub, received a definitive reissue in 2004 overseen by biographer David Katz for Auralux. A separate mix appeared on Sanctuary’s two-CD Dub-Triptych collection that year. Sanctuary also released the four-CD anthology I Am the Upsetter in 2005. In 2006 the U.S. label Narnack reissued Panic in Babylon with new artwork and a bonus disc featuring remixes by George Clinton, DJ Spooky, and TV on the Radio. The 2007 set Ape-ology combined Super Ape, Return of the Super Ape, and Roast Fish, Collie Weed, and Cornbread across two CDs. A documentary titled The Upsetter premiered at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in 2008 and received wider release three years later. Further collaborations included Repentance with Andrew W.K. and The Mighty Upsetter with Adrian Sherwood; a dub counterpart, Dub Setter, followed in 2010.

In 2012 Perry released Master Piece on Born Free Records, developed from tracks first heard in rough form on the 2010 EP The Unfinished Master Piece. He also partnered with ambient techno pioneers the Orb on The Orbserver in the Star House, later followed by More Tales from the Orbservatory from the same sessions. Jamaican authorities recognized him in 2012 with election to Commander class in the Order of Distinction, and the following year he received a Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.

He soon began working with producer Daniel Boyle at London’s Rolling Lion Studio to recapture the raw, elemental atmosphere of Black Ark. The effort yielded the 2014 throwback dub album Back on the Controls, supported by a fan-funded campaign and later nominated for a Grammy. In 2015 Perry’s Swiss studio—where he lived with his wife and two children—burned down accidentally, destroying unreleased recordings and stage costumes, though he escaped unharmed. He continued releasing music, including 2015’s The Super Ape Strikes Again (with Pura Vida) and 2016’s Must Be Free. That year he and Brooklyn’s Subatomic Sound System, frequent collaborators since the late 2000s, toured to mark the fortieth anniversary of Super Ape. The 2017 album Super Ape Returns to Conquer offered a fresh take on the original, with guest vocals from Jahdan Blakkamoore and the late Ari Up of the Slits. The Black Album, his second project with Boyle, appeared in 2018. He rejoined Sherwood for the 2019 full-length Rainford; its dub version, Heavy Rain, followed later that year. He also contributed to the EP Life of the Plants with Peaking Lights and Ivan Lee, issued by Stones Throw. Lee “Scratch” Perry died in a Lucea, Jamaica, hospital on August 29, 2021, at age 85. Posthumous releases have included Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Guide to the Universe (with New Age Doom) and 2024’s King Perry, featuring guests Tricky, Greentea Peng, and Shaun Ryder.