In the vein of Sound Man and The Soundtrack of My Life, a lyrical memoir
from the founder of one of the greatest music labels of all time, Island
Records, about his astonishing life and career helping to bring reggae
music to the world stage and working with Bob Marley, U2, Grace Jones,
Cat Stevens, and many other icons.Since its founding in 1959, Island
Records has been home to legendary artists representing wildly divergent
musical styles, yet who share the same maverick, outsider spirit of its
founder, Chris Blackwell. Time and again, Blackwell and his Island
cohorts identified and nurtured musicians overlooked by other labels,
including Bob Marley, U2, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones, Roxy Music, Traffic,
Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Robert Palmer, Free, the B-52's, John Martyn, and
Jimmy Cliff. Like these artists, Blackwell never took the conventional
route. After a privileged early childhood in Jamaica--crossing paths
with Ian Fleming, Noël Coward, and Errol Flynn--he was expelled from the
elite British school Harrow for rebellious behavior at age seventeen.
Within five years, he had moved back to Jamaica, and founded Island.
Intertwined with the story of Island is that of Bob Marley and the
Wailers. After an impromptu meeting with the band in 1972, Blackwell
produced the groundbreaking album Catch a Fire, formed a deep bond of
mutual trust and friendship with Marley, and became known for helping to
bring reggae music to the world stage. He also opened the first Jamaican
boutique hotel, on the property of Ian Fleming's former home, GoldenEye,
where all the James Bond books were written. This engaging memoir from
one of the great raconteurs of the late 20th century makes for a giddy
ride through some of that era's most cutting-edge, enduring music. As
Bono says, Blackwell "is an adventurer, an entrepreneur, a buccaneer, a
visionary, and a gentleman."
