Ranking Dread: From Sound System Star to Infamous Outlaw

Tracing the Journey of Winston Brown — the deejay who rose with Ray Symbolic and fell into crime

Early Life & Identity

• Birth name: Winston Brown (also known as Robert Anthony Blackwood), born May 9, 1956, in Trelawny Parish, Jamaica

• Grew up in the Rema and Tivoli ghettos of Kingston

• Took on the stage name Ranking Dread, later adopting aliases like Errol Codling and Michael Dicks

Sound System Roots

• Gained prominence on Jamaica’s Ray Symbolic sound system during the mid‑1970s

• After relocating to London in the late 1970s, he joined Lloyd Coxsone’s sound system, performing alongside notable UK reggae acts

PLAYLIST

1. Ranking Dread – Super Star

2. Ranking Dread – Love A Dub

3. Ranking Dread – Fattie Boom Boom

4. Ranking Dread & Errol Dunkley - Holding On 12"

5. Ranking Dread – Shut Me Mouth

6. Ranking Dread – Loving Devotion

7. Cornell Campbell, Ranking Dread – Bandulu Hard Times - Extended 12 Version

8. Ranking Dread – Come Sister Come

9. Ranking Dread – Wha Go a Africa

10. Ranking Dread – Nuh Trouble Natty Dread

11. Ranking Dread – A Wha We Do

12. Ranking Dread - Tubys Dub Plate Mix

13. Ranking Dread / Roots Radics – Dub It On Jah (Mix by Scientist)

14. Ranking Dread – Jump Up Dub (Mix by King Tubby)