U-Roy

Known as the Originator, U-Roy wasn't the first DJ, nor even the first to cut a record, but he was the first to shake the nation and he originated a style so distinctly unique that he single-handedly changed his homeland's music scene forever. Born Ewart Beckford in Jones Town, Jamaica, in 1942, he received his famous moniker from a young family member unable to correctly pronounce Ewart and the nickname stuck. U-Roy's rise to fame was slow, and took almost a decade. He began back in 1961, DJing at the Doctor Dickie's Dynamite sound system. Eventually, he moved onto the Sir ...