Rupie Edwards

Jamaica's more eccentric producers get all the glory, but it was the less flamboyant Rupie Edwards who arguably made the biggest impact on the island's music scene. As the inventor of the one-riddim album, and the first to popularize dub abroad, the singing producer signposted reggae's path for posterity. Rupie was born in Goshen, Jamaica, on July 4, 1945, and his family moved to Kingston when he was 13. Talent shows beckoned, as did a career as a mechanic, but the singer was still in his teens when he cut his debut single, 1962's "Guilty Convict." Duos were all the rage, and ...