Roy Samuel Reid (28 June 1944 – 27 November 1999), better known as I-Roy, was a Jamaican DJ who had a very prolific career during the 1970s. Deriving his name, and to some extent his style, from U-Roy, Reid was also heavily influenced in his early career by Dennis Alcapone. I-Roy's lyrics were often humorous, incorporating elements of songs and nursery rhymes. In 1976, he was signed by Virgin Records, who went on to release eight albums via various subsidiary labels, mainly utilising backing tracks played by the Revolutionaries. He also released other material in Jamaica, including the Alvin Ranglin-produced Best of I-Roy album in 1977.
Reggae's move to the dancehall era in the 1980s saw I-Roy's popularity decline. On 27 November 1999 Reid died from heart failure in a Spanish Town hospital, at the age of 55. Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson referred to I-Roy as "the mighty poet" in the track 'Street 66' on the 1980 album Bass Culture.
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
Links To Peel[]
Junior Byles & I Roy - Fade Away & Rootsman 12" 197x
In the fourth programme of the Where It's At series in spring 1976, Peel used the ‘Rootsman’ track by “the excellent DJ I-Roy” to introduce Radio Three listeners to the art of reggae toasting, or Jamaican DJs adding their own vocals to recycled backing tracks (in this case a dub version of ‘Fade Away’ by Junior Byles). The presenter also offered a rundown of the top performers in the genre, “although this list is liable to alteration almost daily”: I-Roy, U-Roy, Big Youth, Prince Far I, Prince Jazzbo, Dillinger, Jah Woosh and Dr Alimantado.
Available Peel show tracklistings are incomplete from the peak of I-Roy’s career in the first half of the 1970s, but the British DJ would continue to play vintage tracks by him regularly in the following decades. In early February 2000, following belated press reports of I-Roy’s death, Peel marked the passing of the star toaster the previous year by playing two tracks a night by him for three successive nights on Radio One.
In 2014, discussing his selections for a Record Box drawn from John Peel’s record collection, DJ and filmmaker Don Letts ranked I-Roy as one of the “mighty three” reggae toasters, alongside Big Youth and U-Roy, seen as influential in the later development of rap in the US.[1]
Festive Fifty Entries[]
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Sessions[]
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Other Shows Played[]
- 1970s
- J P D25 (1975): Dread In The West
- 15 January 1976: Straight To The Heathen Head (LP - Truths And Rights) Micron Music
- Where It's At (1976): Rootsman
- 19 April 1977: Knotty Knots (7") Town-N-Country
- 22 September 1977 (& Leroy Smart): Jah Is My Light / Wicked Eat Dirt (split 12" with Jewells - Master Mix) Observer OB 0010
- 02 February 1978: Version Of The Godfather (7" - The Godfather) Weed Beat WB 049
- Mid June 1978 (& Dennis Walks): Combination Drifter (single) Afro as mentioned before below play, had to fade it out the first time
- 10 July 1978 (& Dennis Walks): Combination Drifter (single) Afro
- 29 January 1979: Mohammed Ali (album - World On Fire) Front Line FL 1033
- 12 February 1979: Radical Music (album - World On Fire) Front Line FL 1033
- 21 March 1979: Devil's Bug (album - Cancer) Front Line FLX 4001
- 1980s
- 16 January 1980: Buck & The Preacher (v/a album - Creation Rockers Volume 4) Trojan
- 21 March 1983: Musical Pleasure (v/a album - The Trojan Story Volume Two) Trojan TALL 200
- 05 May 1986: Run Come (7") Rubun
- 12 May 1986: Run Come (7") Rubun
- 05 December 1988: Forward I Man A Yard (7") Stop Point
- 06 January 1989 (BFBS) (& Prince Far I): Jazzbo Have Fe Run (7") Student
- 15 March 1989: Musical Drum Sound (v/a album - U Roy And Friends - With A Flick Of My Musical Wrist (Jamaican Deejay Music 1970-1973)) Trojan
- 22 May 1989: Brother Toby Is A Movie From London (album - Glen Brown – Dubble Attack (The Original Pantomine Dee-Jay Collection 1972-74)) Greensleeves
- 24 May 1989: Rasta On A Sunday (v/a album - Dubble Attack The Original Pantomine Dee-Jay Collection 1972-74) Greensleeves
- 31 May 1989: Festive Season (album - Glen Brown – Dubble Attack (The Original Pantomine Dee-Jay Collection 1972-74)) Greensleeves
- 06 June 1989: Brother Toby Is A Movie From London (v/a LP - Dubble Attack (The Original Pantomine Dee-Jay Collection 1972-74) Greensleeves
- 06 June 1989 (Radio Bremen): Rasta On A Sunday (v/a album - Dubble Attack (The Original Pantomine Dee-Jay Collection 1972-74)) Greensleeves
- 1990s
- 18 February 1994: War And Friction (v/a CD - If Deejay Was Your Trade) Blood & Fire
- 26 February 1994 (BFBS): War And Friction (v/a album - If Deejay Was Your Trade (The Dreads At King Tubby's 1974-1977) Blood & Fire
- 25 February 1997: Hot Stuff (CD – Don’t Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff)’ Blood And Fire
- 26 February 1997: Buck And The Preacher (CD - Don't Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff)’ Blood & Fire
- March 1997 (FSK): Sound Education (CD - Don't Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff (1972-75)) Blood & Fire
- 04 March 1997: Late Hour (v/a CD - 2 Heavyweight - Another Blood And Fire Sampler) Blood & Fire
- 06 March 1997: Look A Boom (CD – Don’t Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff) Blood & Fire
- 13 March 1997: Noisy Place (CD - Don’t Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff [1972-75) Blood & Fire
- 17 March 1997 (BFBS): Hot Stuff (LP-Don't Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff (1972-1975)) (Blood & Fire)
- 17 March 1997 (BBC World Service): Late Hour (v/a CD Album - 2 Heavyweight - Another Blood And Fire Sampler) Blood & Fire
- 02 April 1997: Sufferer's Psalm (album - Don’t Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff (1972-75)) Blood & Fire
- 10 April 1997: Super Fly (LP-Don't Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff) Blood & Fire
- 10 April 1997 (BFBS): Sufferer's Psalm (CD-Don't Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff (1972-75)) Blood & Fire
- 25 August 1998: Problems Of Life (7") Original Matador
- 15 June 1999: Who Is The Man (v/a LP - Roots Techniques) Pressure Sounds
- 2000s
- 01 February 2000: Space Flight (split 7" with Jerry Lewis) Attack
- 01 February 2000: Problems Of Life (7") Matador
- 02 February 2000: Trust No Shadow After Dark (7") Heavy Duty)
- 02 February 2000: Water-Rate (7") The Thing
- 03 February 2000: Padlock (7") Dip
- 03 February 2000: Touting I Self (LP: Truths & Rights) Grounation
- 07 February 2000 (BFBS) (& Lee Perry): Space Flight (v/a CD-Lee Perry & Friends - Chapter 2 Of 'Words') Trojan
- 10 February 2000 (Radio Eins): Padlock
- 10 February 2000 (Radio Eins): Trust No Shadow After Dark
- 16 August 2001: Coxsone Time (7") Wambesi
- 06 September 2001: Coxsone Time (7") Wambesi
- 20 September 2001 (Radio Eins): Coxsone Time (7")
- 01 January 2002: Welding (7") Disco Rockers
- 03 January 2002 (Radio Eins): Welding (7")
- 26 February 2002: Full Warning' (7")
- 27 February 2002: Step On The Dragon (LP – Microphone Attack 1974-1978: Niney The Observer) Blood & Fire
- 20 March 2002 (BBC World Service): Step On The Dragon (7" - Sister Maggie Breast / Step On The Dragon) Observer
- 21 March 2002 (Radio Mafia): Full Warning (7") Fe-Me-Time
- 21 March 2002 (Radio Eins): Full Warning (7") Fe-Me-Time
- 04 April 2002 (Radio Mafia): Step On The Dragon (Blood & Fire)
- 25 April 2002 (Radio Eins): Jah Come Here (album - Microphone Attack)
- 20 May 2003: Buck and the Preacher (LP - The Mighty Trojan Sound) Trojan
- 17 July 2003: Cow Town Skank (10") Lee's Gold
- 22 December 2004 (Rob Da Bank): Hot Stuff' - (Mafia)