Keith Hudson Official Site

About my father Keith Hudson: Born in Shooters Hill, Jamaica, March 18th 1947. Producer, writer, arranger and singer Keith Hudson is born into a musical family, his grandfather a noted musician with Cuban bands. Keith nonetheless pursues a career as a dental technician. Inspired however by Sir Coxsone's Downbeat sound system - "I used to hold Don Drummond's trombone for him so I can be in the studio" - he determines to make music. Hudson produces a number one hit in Jamaica in 1968 with his first outing, Old Fashioned Way, a timeless rhythm and melody vocalised upon by veteran Ken Boothe. Hits follow with other Jamaican popular vocalists of the time - Delroy Wilson and John Holt - and Hudson has the vision to recognise the soon-to-be DJ phenomenon by cutting U Roy's first tune Dynamic Fashion Way long before Duke Reid got the DJ daddy into the studio for Treasure Isle. (Check U Roy's immortal intro on the Trojan compilation 'Studio Kinda Cloudy' - "Now how wonderful it is to be surrounded by these brothers of talent... studio real kinda cloudy as I would say"). Talking with King Stitt in 1976, Hudson recounts his instinct for DJ: "An de pace whey me did a set... no man woodn try fe come in between me and de deejay dem. Caw me bring U Roy an when me bring U Roy, U Roy go out deh wid Duke Reid an Duke Reid a mash it up wid him an me say 'A whey de blood claat me a gwaan wid'. An me go inna de Lane go find Dennis Al Capone an bring out Dennis Al Capone come gi U Roy a blood claat competition... An him switch an go to Duke... And me say a whey de blood claat do hoonoo, come Big Yout numba one S90. Me a tell yu man." 1972 is Hudson's watershed year with Big Youth's Ace 90 Skank the biggest ever hit for the DJ, placing the producer at the pinnacle of Jamaican popular music yet it also ushers in a darker shade to Hudson. The self-confessed "flash little yout" now comes with powerful tunes laced with menace such as Satan Side, Don't Think About Me and A Place In Africa; where Lee Perry's music is wacky, Hudson's is genuinely unnerving. However, such doom-laden, introspective music does not find an enthusiastic audience in Jamaica and, like so much of the enduring music produced on the island, is destined to be pressed locally in minute quantities or released overseas. Thus begins Hudson's musical exile. The flood of Jamaican 7" releases on Hudson's idiosyncratic labels such as Rebind, Mamba (after the black and deadly snake) and Imbidimts (meaning 'know sound' according to Hudson's sleeve notes to 'Furnace' subsides to give way to highly conceptualised UK-only released LPs such as 'Entering the Dragon', 'Torch Of Freedom' and 'Flesh of My Skin...' , and a classic dub LP 'Pick A Dub', all received to great critical acclaim. Encouraged by the critics and perhaps through his musical and physical dislocation from Jamaica, Hudson concentrates on his own music rather than producing others. His vocals, variously described as "eerie", "awkward" and "discordant" sit perfectly in a dub setting. Maybe in recognition of this and the popularity of his dubs on UK sound systems such as Fatman, Keith takes the unusual step of releasing a dub set, 'Brand', a year or so before the accompanying vocal LP 'Rasta Communication'. Hudson again returns to DJ production duties, this time for his friend, Militant Barry, who utilises many of the rhythms from 'Brand' for his set 'Green Valley'. In interview in 1981, Hudson - firmly ensconced in New York - expresses his craving for Jamaican acceptance and to be able to play there live for the first time. His next recordings fail to connect with a Jamaican public obssessed with Dancehall -In early 1984, rumours circulated that Hudson was recording with the Wailers in New York, but nothing was ever released. In August he was diagnosed as having lung cancer. He received radiation therapy, and appeared to be responding well to the treatment, but on the morning of 14 November he complained of stomach pains, collapsed and died. Very little of his music has remained on catalogue. Hopefully this situation will change, and allow his music to be appreciated by the wider audience it deserves.
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