Philip Smart

Philip Smart (9 April 1960 – 25 February 2014) was a Jamaican music producer based in New York City.

Biography

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Smart's career spanned over five decades. While in high school, he produced his first record with reggae instrumentalist Augustus Pablo and vocalist Lee "Scratch" Perry. The transition to recording engineering came when the Augustus Pablo's album Java was being recorded. Errol Thompson was the project engineer and Smart was taught how to record to sixteen-track tape machines and how to make rough mixes to two-track tapes. This was followed by working with King Tubby, and then for producer Bunny Lee, who gave him the nickname Prince Philip. He was in fact King Tubby's first trainee, recording and mixing such hits as "None Shall Escape" by Johnny Clarke, "Jah Love" by Yabby U, and most of Dr. Alimantado's albums.

His HC&F Recording Studio in Freeport, Long Island, was built in 1981 and opened in 1982. The first recording project was with the group Monyaka, titled "Go Deh Yaka", which was an instant hit, and reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. Since that time, the studio had several very successful projects such as Jah Life Productions...

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