Gussie Clarke

Augustus Clarke (born 1954), better known as Gussie Clarke, is a roots reggae and dub producer who worked with some of the top Jamaican reggae artists in the 1970s and later set up his own Music Works studio.

Career

Clarke started working in the music industry by cutting dub plates. He made his debut as a producer in 1972, with U-Roy's "The Higher The Mountain". He established himself as the top producer of deejays in the early 1970s with albums such as Big Youth's Screaming Target, and I-Roy's Presenting I Roy, both regarded as among the best deejay albums ever produced. Through the 1970s and early 1980s he worked with artists such as Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Augustus Pablo, Leroy Smart, and The Mighty Diamonds, including on the latter's influential "Pass the Kouchie" in 1981. Much of Clarke's output was released on his own Gussy and Puppy labels.

In the late 1980s, Clarke adapted to the new dancehall style of reggae, but stood out from other producers by attempting to produce glossier recordings with greater potential to cross over internationally.

In 1987, while he was still recording at Music Mountain and Dynamic Sounds studio, the first record to bear hints of this newly...

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