1970s

1972 ad for Dennis Brown's "Silhouettes" record, available at Derrick's 1Stop Record Village owned by Derrick Harriott

Prince Jazzbo's first hit in 1972 with Coxsone was a version of Horace Andy's "Skylarking", which he re-worked as "Crabwalking".

November 1972 saw the release of Junior Byles' debut album, Beat Down Babylon, which along with a series of singles that followed, established Byles as a major force in Jamaica as well as establishing him with audiences in the United Kingdom, "Curley Locks" being particularly successful there.

Junior Byles 1972 debut album, Beat Down Babylon, was a dread masterpiece and instant classic. The album remains one the best from the era, notable not just for Byles excellent songwriting and delivery, but for Lee 'Scratch' Perry's exceptional production, and it stands to this day as his most coherent album.

Fabulous Five Inc. was the first Jamaican reggae band to play on an international hit LP. They backed up six cuts on American singer, Johnny Nash's 1972 gold album "I Can See Clearly Now" which included the Bob Marley composition "Stir It Up" "Guava Jelly" "More Questions Than Answers" and "Comma Comma".

In 1972, Higgs won the Tourist Song Competition with "Invitation to Jamaica," whose prizes included a trip to New York, where he performed for the first time. The bouncy tune was uncharacteristic of his more normal roots sound, which mixed rhythmic jazzy scat singing with heartfelt lyrics that expressed deep political awareness and a keen sense of history and classical literature.

In 1972, Bunny Wailer formed his own Solomonic label, releasing "Search For Love" as his first single.

Dobby Dobson's 1972 cover of "That Wonderful Sound" was a smash right across the Caribbean, the best-selling single of its time.

Bob Marley and the Wailer's 'Catch A Fire' album with the famous zippo cover is released (1973)

Lee Scratch Perry built Black Ark studio in 1973 in Washington Gardens, Kingston (Jamaica). Artists who were produced and/or recorded at the Black Ark include Bob Marley and The Wailers, Max Romeo, Mighty Diamonds, The Heptones and Augustus Pablo.

Herman Chin-Loy created one of dub's cornerstone recordings in 1973 known as "Aquarius Dub", mixed by Chin-Loy himself at Dynamic Sounds in Kingston

Rupie Edwards produced Johnny Clarke's first hits in 1973 "Everyday Wondering" and "Julie".

Before 1973 there were virtually no dreadlocked reggae acts. The first reggae star to sport dreadlocks on stage was Big Youth. See his profile here: https://www.jamaicansmusic.com/artists/profile/Big_Youth

Leroy Smart’s breakthrough came in 1973 with “Mother Liza”, which topped the local singles chart, and led to “Pride & Ambition” also becoming a big local hit

Spotlight: Ernest Ranglin - After being instrumental in the development of Ska, he soon after arranged the first Jamaican hit to break internationally, Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop. Over the years he aided in the development of Jamaican music and in 1973 he was awarded the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican Government for his contributions to music.

In 1973, The Mighty Diamonds recorded at Byron Lee's Dynamic Sounds studio and notched their first hit with "Shame and Pride."

In 1973 Gregory Isaacs set up his own record store and label, African Museum, in partnership with Errol Dunkley. The record shop was located on Chancery Lane in Kingston.

John Holt's biggest success came with his album "1000 Volts of Holt" released in 1973 on the Trojan Label.

Big Youth was named artiste of the year in 1973 following the overwhelming success of his LP, "Screaming Target" which was released under the Trojan Label.

Dennis Brown's song Westbound Train was the biggest Jamaican hit of summer 1973