Ken Khouri

Kenneth Lloyd "Ken" Khouri (1917 – 20 September 2003) was a pioneering Jamaican record company owner and one of the first record producers on the island.

Biography

He was born in St Catherine Parish, the son of a Lebanese immigrant father and a mother of Cuban origin, and grew up in Richmond and Highgate. He moved to Kingston as a young man and joined the retail company E.A. Issa and Brothers Limited, where he became a manager before leaving to set up his own furniture business.[1]

When his father required specialist hospital treatment, he flew with him to Miami, Florida, and by chance overheard someone selling a disc recording machine. Khouri bought the machine and discs, and returned with it to Kingston, where in 1949 he set up a voice recording service.[2][3] Realising the commercial possibilities, he diversified into setting up a music recording business, one of his earliest recordings being Lord Flea's "Naughty Little Flea".[4][5] In 1954, he set up the Times record label with Alec Durie, owner of the Times store in Kingston, and began producing records by local musicians, the first time this had been done in Jamaica. Having until then had records pressed in the US, he also set up a record pressing plant in the early 1950s, and began pressing copies of American records under licence.[1]

Ken Khouri has been described as a pioneer and visionary.[4][5] According to Lloyd Bradley (in his Bass Culture book), without Khouri the "...new [Jamaican record producing] industry would probably have been stillborn. Ken Khouri was always going to be a central figure: Anyone who had a tune in his head could come to Ken to record it.. ..and get pressed up what ever he thought he could sell."[6] Recording engineer Graeme Goodall said: "If there's one common denominator in the whole thing, not as far as the musical content but as far as the whole process [of developing the Jamaican recording industry], that was Ken Khouri, Papa Khouri. Because he was the one who had the foresight to develop the industry, y'know, build the studio, build the pressing plant. He was a very successful Lebanese businessman, but I mean he was the lynchpin of the whole thing."[7]

Initially, Khouri mainly released mento and calypso music, later recording early examples of ska and rocksteady. In 1961, he set up Federal Records in Kingston (at the time of the West Indies Federation), with the first recording studio on the island, and worked closely with such reggae record producers as Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Arthur "Duke" Reid, Prince Buster and Lloyd "Matador" Daley.[1] Khouri was also responsible for signing American singer Johnny Nash to record Jamaican music, producing his first international hit "Hold Me Tight", which went on to sell six million copies globally.[2]

Khouri moved to live in Miami in the mid-1970s, before returning to Jamaica in 1980. He sold his business interests to Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Records in 1981. In an interview he commented on his lack of recognition in the Jamaican music industry, stating that apart from some non-Jamaicans and a few old associates like Prince Buster or Pluto Shervington: "No one ever says thanks... I would rather that you do not say it but I am disappointed, especially with the Government, for not recognizing my contribution."[1]

In 2001, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Caribbean Development for the Arts and Culture Foundation, and before his death was nominated for a Musgrave Medal for his contributions to the music industry. He died in Kingston in 2003, at the age of 86.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Balford Henry, "Ken Khouri: pioneer of Jamaican recording industry", Jamaica Gleaner, 28 September 2003. Retrieved 17 April 2013
  2. 1 2 Lou Gooden (2003). Reggae Heritage: Jamaica's Music History, Culture and Politic. AuthorHouse. pp. 199–200. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  3. ↑ Kevin O'Brien Cheng and Wayne Chen (1998). Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music. Temple University Press. p. 84. Retrieved 5 May 2005.
  4. 1 2 Michael Garnice (11 March 2012). "Mento Music Lord Flea". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  5. 1 2 Gooden (2003). "Reggae Heritage". p. 200.
  6. ↑ Lloyd Bradley (2003). Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King. p. 46. ISBN 0141928174.
  7. ↑ Peter I, "Interview with Graeme Goodall, 'Mr. Goody'", Reggae-Vibes.com. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
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