CLICK IMAGE to hear dub reggae legend Clive Chin’s mix on Amy Wachtel’s RadioLilly.

Clive Chin first rose to prominence by producing a record for his classmate Horace Swaby, a.k.a. Augustus Pablo, in 1971 at Randy’s Studio in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. This record, “Java,” became a slow burning international sensation with its Eastern motif played on the melodica. LPs followed, namely This Is Augustus Pablo and Java Java Dub, which elaborated on the rhythmic achievements of the single. Another of his biggest hits on the British National Chart was “Fatty Bum, Bum” by Carl Malcolm.

During this heyday of early reggae classics, Clive established his own record label, Impact! along with recording cuts for his family label, Randy’s. He helped with recordings at all the major studios in Kingston with artists such as; Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Hortense and Alton Ellis, Horace Andy, Big Youth, I-Roy, U-Roy, Dennis Alcapone and Senya. Some international Clive Chin productions include: Serge Gainsbourg (France), Joe Cocker (England), Martha Velez (Puerto Rico), and Johnny Nash(US).

His producing came to an abrupt end in 1978, as the Chin family closed shop and relocated to New York, where the record operation was renamed VP Records, which today is the largest reggae distributor in North America.

Taking a new direction in business, Clive spent much of the ’80s running a Jamaican restaurant in Queens, New York. Clive began to produce records again in the mid ‘90’s, and started pressing and releasing re-issues of Randy’s and Impact! Classics with his new company, Above Rock Records, and more recently, 17 North Parade.

Due to the rise of vintage reggae in recent times, Chin’s productions are proudly coming into the light of day once again. His current production work features new artists voiced-over his now famous riddims; Luciano, Sizzla, Jr. Kelly (Jamaica), collaborations with his producer/son Joel Chin, Cha Cha (Shanghai), K-Vibes (NY), and Oli (France), to name a few.

With this renewed appreciation of Classic Reggae, Clive is now accepting demands for his Reggae Music History and Lecture/Demonstration Workshops all over the world including The Red Bull Academy in Capetown South Africa (2003). He more recently toured with The Uprooted Sunshine Tour in China (2009-10) that entertained several Chinese dignitaries, and The Randy’s 50th Anniversary Tour in Japan.