“I can remember songs by Alton Ellis, The Heptones, The Silvertones, Vic Taylor, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires with Ken Lazarus and all them guys, Boris Gardiner, just to mention a few y’know, because there was so much. And Bob Marley, no doubt about that because I can remember “Simmer Down” and all those songs, I was a young youth at that time when those songs was playing, Ken Boothe, all those great singers y’know, Cornell Campbell.”

It wasn’t long before U Brown began attending sound system dances, where he saw and heard things which would prove highly influential:

“What happened is that I had a friend by the name of Lewis, we called him Butry Belly. He’s a youth like me, him love dance and them things deh so, and at the time Tubbys was mashing up the place, that was like 1966, 67…. King Tubbys Sound System…. We usually go a the dances and U Roy was the man who really was the hot DJ at the time, even though he never have a lot of recordings until when he start to record for Duke Reid. So me and my friend decide to go dance on weekends when we get our little pocket money, tell our mum lie about where we went y’know, and I was at the dance. And by listening to U Roy and some other DJs like Lizzy, and Dennis Alcapone & Prince Jazzbo, cos Prince Jazzbo wasn’t far away from Kingston 11, Olympic Gardens area y’know. Listening to U Roy’s vibes it really impressed me and that helped bring out what I had inside of me. And then I started to DJ some little things inside the dance beside the sound box in my friends ears. And sometimes some of my friends would turn round & say go and take the microphone, but I was shy.”

Eventually U Brown became more directly involved with sound systems:

“One weekend I went to a little dance with a sound system from our community called Silver Bullet, and while Silver Bullet was playing I was doing the same thing, dj’ing in the dance right beside the sound box in the ears of my friends, and them a go said go take the mic, so I decide to take the mic and did try a likkle ting and I was shy still, not on key with the riddim, but y’know maybe as I young youth I come across & people give me a lot of encouragement and that was feeling good. And I decided this was something really interesting and I want to do it. And anywhere dances were keeping close to my home, I would always be there, it didn’t matter which sound system, whether I’m inside or outside I’ll be hanging about the place listening to the music. I was about 11 or 12 years old, and by doing that I get the chance to follow Silver Bullet, the first sound that I really get the chance to hold a microphone and go to any dances them play and help them lifting up the sound system box and string up the sound system. And before the resident DJ come to DJ in the dance I always take up the microphone before that time and say a few little things, try to keep the people busy and ting. Until the sound owner said to me ‘well yu sound good yu know youth’ an’ ting, until that DJ went away to DJ another sound and I start to DJ on that sound system Silver Bullet for a while y’know and start to go a lot of dances and get a likkle pocket money and it start encourage me more.”

The ups and downs of sound systems meant it wasn’t long before U Brown progressed onto another set:

“Silver Bullet was slowing down a little and a friend who keeping a dance with a sound called Sounds of Music asked the owner if I could come. And that night Winston Scotland, the original resident DJ for Sounds of Music, he wasn’t there to DJ the sound either, he was getting so popular that he move all over the place wherever he feel like. So I DJ Sounds of Music that night & Philip Monroe the sound owner, who is also a producer, said I could follow the sound and be the resident DJ. And those days I was getting like a little two pounds or thirty shillings, but it was big money to me as a youth.”

U Brown’s big break on the sound system circuit came when he was given the opportunity to hold the mic with the legendary King Tubbys Hi Fi:

“While I was deejaying Sounds of Music it so happened that U Roy had an accident and fractured his leg, I think it was 1969 going up 1970. And the guy who take care of the sound system while it’s on the road, a guy by the name of Trevor but we call him Tower Hill, tell Tubbys about me. And Tubbys tell Tower Hill to bring me. So Tower Hill tell me to come to a dance one night in Sundown Crescent, which is a street off Molynes Road. And while I was at the dance Dillinger was there as well, but the thing is each sound have a resident DJ so if say for instance 5 sound systems did play on one street for the night, each DJ when them speak you don’t have to go into the dance, you know which sounds playing because you know that’s the voice of Big Youth, and from it’s Big Youth you know that it’s Tippertone because Big Youth nah DJ no other sound but Tippertone. Or U Roy nah DJ no other sound but Tubbys, Alcapone nah DJ no other sound but El Paso. So what happened, Dillinger’s style never fit King Tubbys style at the time, even though Dillinger was a hot DJ. And I Roy was busy, I Roy’s style fit it but he could only DJ Tubbys occasionally. So they did look for somebody to fit inna U Roy’s space. Me was the only person as a young youth away from I Roy at the time. I still don’t have the skill, but the way I try to present myself and say the things on the microphone, it sounds like it’s a young U Roy, so I start going round with Tubbys for nearly a year, until Tubbys sound get mashed up by police in St Thomas.”

U Brown wasn’t present on the night King Tubbys sound came to an end:

“I was supposed to go but another guy have a system named Soul Attorney, and I go a Montego Bay with them while King Tubbys sound get mash up, and that was the end of King Tubbys sound. So I continue to DJ with Soul Attorney, which became King Attorney. Then a guy by the name of Tony Welch buy the sound & change the name to Socialist Roots. And there I met Ranking Trevor & Nicodemus, they come and learn the profession around us.”

U Brown looks back on his days working the sounds in the early 1970’s with fond memories:

“It was something great. People treasure it because of the type of music, the type of bassline coming out of the bassboxes. In those days they didn’t have tweeters, just the steel horns & the bass boxes. The melody that you hear from those steel horns and the reverb sound that you hear, that ‘splash’ on the rim and the snare, they were so nice… and the selection they was playing and how they introduce the music, especially U Roy, it was brilliant, trust me, something that bwoy, I always cherish. In those days it wasn’t clashes, that’s how the real soundsystem prove itself, because 2 soundsystems could be playing on the same street, and the sound which play the heaviest, the sweetest & the best music, that’s the sound which is gonna pull the people, and that’s how you prove the sound is better.”

U Brown also experienced DJ’ing on sounds in England during the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s, when he held the mic for Fatman & Sir Dees (later to become Unity): 

“It was a completely different atmosphere cos the people in England were never used to too much DJs in that time. The response was different from Jamaica because they weren’t used to it that way. When Ray Symbolic with Ranking Joe came here, that’s when people really start pick up on live sound system, Jamaican sound system with Jamaican artists, Jamaican selector, from yard…. no carbon thing…. And now, pure niceness. When Sturgav came to London in 99 or 2000 in Brixton, there was me, Ranking Joe, Johnny Osbourne, Al Campbell, Brigadier, Josey Wales, Charlie Chaplin, y’know, it was wicked, because everybody get into it now, everybody understand what’s going on.”

Like many DJs of the 1970’s, appearances on sound systems led to attention from producers, resulting in visits to the studio for recording:

“My first recording was for Winston Edwards, he handled business for Joe Gibbs in London. The first 2 songs I did were ‘Jamaican Tobacco’& ‘Wet Up Your Pants Foot.’ About 1970, 1971. Then a few months later Yabby You said he would like to record a tune with me, because Tubbys did tell him about me. So I did a song on ‘Anti Christ’, but my version called ‘Sheep In Wolf clothing.’ After that I met the great Bunny Striker Lee and things did change, it was more recording, more recording.”

Bunny “Striker” Lee was one of the top producers in Jamaica, bringing out hit after hit, and U Brown has this to say about his association with Lee, most of whose work was mixed at King Tubbys studio:

“It was a great experience for me and I learn a lot not only about recording songs but also about producing songs, the different mixes and things. I was living in Olympic Gardens at the time, a place named Tower Hill, and Tubbys was just down the road from me. So like dj’ing the sound, that makes me become closer to Tubbys so I was going down to Tubbys house everyday, down by the studio and I hang around in the yard and I get to meet different producers and singers. Tubbys is a man who know sound, Tubbys is a brilliant technician and him know how him want the sound to sound. Is a man know him work, y’know. I really enjoy being round Tubbys. And me even go buy him lunch several times, he send me fe buy him lunch!”

In common with other artists in the Jamaican music business, U Brown moved from producer to producer and from studio to studio, always working and always looking for a break:

“I then record songs for Tony Welch, with Linval Thompson, titles like ‘Train To Zion’. I record for Joe Gibbs, songs with Dennis Brown, ‘Say What You’re Saying’ and other tracks. Jacob Miller, ‘Keep On Knocking’ for Joe Gibbs. I recorded for GG, Alvin Ranglin… Gregory Isaacs ‘The Border’ which was a big hit. For VP, Randys, Roy Francis who now owns Mixing Lab, but at that time his label was Phase One. Gussie Clarke, one of the big songs was ‘Gimme The Music’ combined together with The Mighty Diamonds. ‘Pass The Kutchie’, which Musical Youth did over and changed one word, y’know…. I’m also a writer for part of that song. It was a big, massive hit. And that’s when I start to realise about the business, that this is a serious profession.”

U Brown continued recording on a regular basis throughout the 1970’s and into the 1980’s too, scoring a massive hit with ‘Tu Shung Peng’ on Dennis Brown’s ‘Revolution’ rhythm, and also DJ’ing on Dennis Brown’s ‘Praise Without Raise’, about which he has this to say:

“Funny thing was, while I was recording that at Harry J studio, Bunny Wailer was there and while I was saying ‘can’t take the praise without raise’, Bunny Wailer said ‘a whole heap a that a gwaan fe days’, so another line came out there, and it’s really true…”

After establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in both live dances and the studio, U Brown turned his hand to production:

“After going inside the studio with Bunny Lee, I also learnt producing skills….how to transfer this track to that track and so on… In those days it was all 4 track. You had the drums on one track, the bass on another, the riddim section on another and the vocal on a next track. Sometimes you would realise after listening to a singer voicing, you would also like harmony. So to get that harmony on the song, you either have to mix the 4 track down to another quarter inch, which is a two track, with a vocal and mixdown on one track, and leave an open track to put the harmony, run it back to another 2 track, and tie them together in stereo, and balance the harmony, don’t make it too loud or too low. Or a few studios at that time did have 8 track, like I think Randy’s, Harry J and Joe Gibbs as well. So from the 4 tracks you could transfer it to the 8 track and then have an extra track to do the harmony.”

It wasn’t long before U Brown put his knowledge to good use, setting up his own Hit Sounds label:

“So all this which I learnt from Bunny Lee was very interesting to me, and then he gave me my first riddim track to put out on a label, it was a version of a Barry Brown tune. I can’t even remember the name of the tune but my version was ‘Badness A Madness’, and I put that out on Hit Sound label, that was the first song on my label. I didn’t even have artwork designed for it, I just print it on the label and I give it to Federal to distribute. That was 1977, 78 something like that.”

The mid 1970’s saw major record companies in England beginning to show serious interest in reggae as they became aware of it’s artistic and commercial potential. U Brown was sought out by one such company on his first visit to England:

“Then I came to London and Virgin start get interested in reggae, licensing a lot of things from people like Big Youth, Channel One, U Roy, The Mighty Diamonds. Fatman had some riddim tracks that he got from Jammys as well as some Bunny Lee tracks, and we decided to do an album and present it to Virgin. When we went to see Virgin they already knew about me. The A&R guy who was dealing with reggae pulled out a video of me DJ’ing on Jack Ruby sound in Ocho Rios, which I didn’t even know about. So we signed a distribution deal and they put out the first album called ‘Mr Brown Something.’ Fatman was living in London then and it was hard for us to produce another album here, so I decided to go back to Jamaica and go to the studio and do something for myself. The first two riddims I did were versions of ‘Perhaps’ and ‘Weather Balloon.’”

The latter of those two tracks was to prove an immense hit for U Brown:

“Carlton Patterson had that track before and I usually play it on Socialist Roots sound system. I went to Carlton Patterson and told him I would like to voice that riddim but he tell me Tubbys have a DJ already for it. Ranking Joe was just starting to buss out on Ray Symbolic sound, and Ray Symbolic was a very close friend of Tubbys, so Tubbys would a like give Joe the push. So me say ok, and I had some money, and I buy a 4 track tape and book some time at Channel One. I did go to Al Campbell and tell him I would like him to do a song for me, so he said ok. Me and Trinity at that time was very close friends and we go look for some musicians. The first set of musicians I did use was Lloyd Parks on bass, Johnny Pretty on drums, I don’t know his last name, Tarzan on piano, Ansel Collins on organ, Duggie playing lead Guitar and Winston Bo Pee playing riddim guitar. We voiced and mixed down a new cut of Weather Balloon, but really that riddim was originally named ‘hypocrites.’ Then when Carlton Patterson hear it, he got Michael Campbell, Mikey Dread to record a version named ‘Barber Saloon.’ That one was a hit too cos Mikey Dread could play it on the radio, but my song was a big hit and it opened many doors for me and that’s why I start to record for many more producers, like GG, Joe Gibbs, Manzie, Linval Thompson. I even record songs for Junjo but Junjo never release the song because him more interested in a different people. And that Weather Balloon give me more inspiration that I can produce, so that’s why I continue with my Hit Sound label. Al Campbell did two albums for me. I’m the person who give Peter Metro his first popular song, called ‘Dedicated To You.’ Carlton Livingstone, I give him his first popular song, called ‘Please Mr DJ play this song for me.’”

U Brown also made a whole album with the late Delroy Wilson, but unfortunately the master tapes were damaged in a flood that hit Jamaica. The Hit Sounds label is still active today. In 1999 there were single releases with Admiral Tibett, Captain Barkey, U Brown and new artist Lorenzo, whilst new songs with his close friend and associate Prezident Brown, Yogi, Len Hammond and Melchezidek are already recorded.

In the 1990’s U Brown returned to the spotlight when Blood and Fire records came to Jamaica to discuss releasing an album of his classic material. The album, titled ‘Train To Zion’ did much to revive his name, as did similar album re-releases of his Hit Sounds productions on two French labels, Tabou One and Patate. Based in London nowadays U Brown is still going strong, recording regularly, touring with the Blood and Fire sound system and making live appearances in his own right all over Europe.

“The future have a whole heap a tings fe U Brown, and some of dem U Brown don’t even know until them manifest themselves. I will keep on recording more songs and more songs and greater songs. And more shows. There’s a lot more things for U Brown, so people can just pray for U Brown and hope that U Brown live as long as life can last!”

U Brown interviewed by Steve Mosco, September 2001