Bunny “Striker” Lee was a crucial figure in the history of Jamaican music: he pioneered the art of the dub and was one of the most successful and prolific reggae producers.
He was born Edward O’Sullivan Lee in Kingston, Jamaica, on 23 August 1941. He grew up in the Greenwich Farm district and, after attending the Greenwich Town and Denham Town Primary schools, he studied electrical engineering at Kingston Technical High School. He was plump as a child, hence the nickname “Bunny”. In the late fifties, Lee began dating Yvonne McCloud, the sister of the famous singer Derrick Morgan.
Bunny Lee entered the music industry in 1962, when he began working as a record plugger for Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, and later for Leslie Kong. He then moved on to Ken Lack’s Caltone label where he transitioned from an administrative to an engineering role, until he finally started producing records in 1967. After his first major hit there, which was was Roy Shirley’s “Music Field”, he founded his own Lee’s label and worked on successful releases such as Derrick Morgan’s “Hold You Jack,” Slim Smith and The Uniques “My Conversation,” and Pat Kelly‘s “Little Boy Blue.”
His growing reputation on the Jamaican scene quickly attracted interest from the UK and within a year, he had licensed material to a number of British based labels, including Island, Pama and Trojan.
By the early 1970s he was among the most successful producers in reggae and earned his nickname “Striker” for his ability to dish out hits without missing. Also known as “The Gorgon”, Bunny Lee often wore his signature sailor’s cap. Among his hits of the period, there are Slim Smith‘s “Everybody Needs Love”, Max Romeo‘s “Wet Dream”, Delroy Wilson‘s “Better Must Come”, and John Holt‘s “Stick By Me”.
By 1971, Bunny “Striker” Lee was working side by side with the legendary engineer Osbourne Ruddock, aka King Tubby, who had almost singlehandedly invented dub. Tubby was instrumental in manipulating sound into exciting new directions, a skill Bunny was quick to acknowledge and make use of. Lee was one of the first to utilize studio technology like an instrument unto itself, deconstructing the mixes of reggae tunes until they were entirely different versions of the original song. Among his many innovations was the “flying cymbal” sound, a shuffling hi-hat pattern that added a specific tension and danceability to the grooves and became synonymous with a certain era of mid-’70’s reggae.
Together, Bunny and Tubby produced the finest music of their respective careers. The duo worked together on a catalogue of recordings, issued both on single and albums and often simply credited to King Tubby’s or the Aggrovators. By the mid-seventies, Bunny’s flying cymbal sound provided major hits for a long list of artists that included Johnny Clarke, Delroy Wilson, John Holt, Linval Thompson, Horace Andy, Derrick Morgan and Cornel Campbell. At the peak of his career – essentially the period from 1969 to 1977 – Lee produced thousands of records, creating a labyrinthine discography of vocal sides, DJ records, and dub versions, each disc seemingly spun off from another.
By the early ’80s, Lee was producing new music at a much slower rate than before. Among his notable successes was the production of Beenie Man‘s 1983 debut album “The Invincible Beany Man: The 10 Year Old D.J. Wonder“. With the onset of the mid-eighties’ digital era, Bunny “Striker” Lee focused much of his attention to other business interests and licensing his catalogue in Europe and North America, and slowly eased into retirement. In October 2008, Bunny received the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer for more than 40 years of dedicated service to the music industry.
Bunny “Striker” Lee died on 6 October 2020, aged 79, due to respiratory failure after struggling for months with kidney disease.
Records tagged ‘Bunny Lee’
Sources:
allmusic.com – Jason Ankeny
trojanrecords.com
reggaeville.com
Photos from reggae-vibes.com