Duke Reid was a
Jamaican record producer,
DJ and
label owner. He ran one of the most popular
sound systems of the
1950s and founded
Trojan Records[?], which released many extremely popular
calypso music,
jump blues and American
R&B singles in the late
1950s. In the
1960s, Reid founded a series of other labels that signed many of the most important
ska and
reggae artists. He was still extremely active in the
1970s, working with legendary
dub artist
U-Roy. He died in
1974 after having suffered from a severe illness for the last year.