S/D Female Reggae Producers

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There is one in particular whose name I can't remember, but I am wondering if there are many more

― Mitchell (Mitchell), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

sonia pottinger? good stuff.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Only one I know is Sonia Pottinger. Search.
(xpost)

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

oops, how surprising to meet you here.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Tanya Stephens produces a lot of her new record Gangsta Blues, but I can't tell. It's hot, though.

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i was thinking the same about you, gaz

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Caroline -Rhythm Queen- Williams. she produced stuff for horace andy in the 80's (maybe elementary? i dunno, but she has a cut credited to her on the elementary 12") and then was in akabu (on-u sound).

― mullygrubber (gaz), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW, I think Sonia Pottinger wasn't a hands-on producer, more of like what a movie producer does, ie just funds and organizes it but has other people do the actual creation of the product. Please correct me if I'm wrong cause I don't want to rob her of any credit.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you asking whether or not she engineered the stuff? "twiddled the knobs" as the writers like to say? The liner notes on the Pottinger CD i have say "The earliest cuts were recorded at Federal Recording Studios by engineer Al Iton, who was from Trinidad. The later Federal cuts used Buddy Davidson as engineer." So there you go. But by all accounts, she signed the talent, she brought songs to the groups, she wrote arrangements, and she hired the backing musicians. So I mean, I dunno. I don't think Phil Spector actually ran the board either, but I might be wrong.

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 11 March 2004 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you asking whether or not she engineered the stuff? "twiddled the knobs" as the writers like to say?

No, because I know of very few producers who also engineered.

But by all accounts, she signed the talent, she brought songs to the groups, she wrote arrangements, and she hired the backing musicians.

See I didn't think she was involved with arrangements. Thought she just was the financial backing and organizer, but didn't do anything in the studio, ie she put all the pieces in place, but didn't then move those pieces around.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 11 March 2004 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

No you're right, it is a good question. I shouldn't have written "by all accounts" as, um, the only account I have is in those aforementioned liner notes. But they quote her, on the distinctive sound of the records she released:

"There is a difference, because of personality I expect. I did not know the dancehall at the time, so I made the songs for myself, and since I was a normal person I knew there would be a lot of people who would like my music. I trusted my taste and it worked."

and

"Sometimes I would get someone like Lloyd 'Charmers' Tyrrell to play piano. Sometimes they auditioned without music and I preferred to do it that way because music would give it a feeling that is not there. I used my creativity to determine whether the song wanted strings, or whether it wanted horns, or voices. Whatever enhanced the song - as I wanted a certain fullness in the record."

So that sounds pretty definitively hands-on to me. Whew, can't believe I typed all that! I must really be bored. Heck, you probably even have this thing anyway, Oops; I'm sure you got more reggae records than I do.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 12 March 2004 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

so thats three then. there must be some more!!!

― mullygrubber (gaz), Friday, 12 March 2004 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I don't have that, due to the fact that I am habitually broke as a joke. So thanks for posting that. Pretty interesting. I'm curious as to how much input she had compared to Coxsone and Reid. Judging from what she says and what I know about those two men, they pretty much did the same things (ie Coxsone let other, more musically gifted people run the studio for the most part, but had final approval)

― oops (Oops), Friday, 12 March 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

(Of course she bought Treasure Isle after Duke Reid's death and carried it on without much disturbance for a year or two, as I recall, which tends to suggest her working practices were similar to Duke Reid's).

I have that "Musical Feat" record and it's a good 'un, as is the parallel / overlapping Trojan "Put On Your Best Dress" one. "Swing And Dine" is probably my favourite rocksteady record of all.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 12 March 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

hopkins finally arrives! any further female producers tim?

― mullygrubber (gaz), Friday, 12 March 2004 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been trying to think of some and I end up suspecting that Mrs. Pottinger is the honourable exception rather than the rule.

I think Pauline Perry may be listed as a producer on one or two releases of excavated tapes but I think it unlikely that she had anything much to do with the music.

I looked on that internet thing: http://www.reggaewoman.com/ should help but the absence of producers maybe speaks for itself (there is an absence of any mentions of Mrs. Pottinger, mind...)

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 12 March 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Do you guys reccomend Reggae Songbirds as an into to Sonia Pottinger?

― Mitchell (Mitchell), Friday, 12 March 2004 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

It's fab, but if I were recommending a starting point I'd probably go for one or other of those mentioned above: "Musical Feast" or "Put On Your Best Dress". The former has a better cover, decent sleeve notes and more songs. The latter, when you come across it, is very often daftly cheap (mine was £3). "Swing And Dine", you see?

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 12 March 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

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