The legendary producer Joe Gibbs died of a heart attack at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica on Thursday 21st February. Joe Gibbs, born Joel Gibson, is best known for producing Two Sevens Clash by the late great Joseph Hill’s Culture.
Born in Montego Bay in 1943, Gibbs left Jamaica to train as an engineer in the US.
He returned home in the mid-1960s, eventually adding music sales to the TV repair shop he’d set up.
His record shop quickly became a hit, and he then turned to setting up his music production studio.
His collaboration with Roy Shirley on Hold Them almost singlehandedly created rock steady, and he formed an early bond with a young Lee Scratch’ Perry.
Gibbs would go on to work with almost every big name in Jamaican music, forming a long-time partnership with Errol Thompson and pairing up with Mighty Diamonds, Dennis Brown, Big Youth, the Heptones, Beres Hammond and Gregory Isaacs, among others.
From the modest base in Jamaica, he succeeded in conquering the music world with Top 10 hit singles like Nick Thomas’ Love of the Common People (number four in 1970), Dennis Brown’s Money in My Pocket (number two in 1977), and Althea and Donna’s Uptown Top Ranking (number one in the UK charts in 1977)
