Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Reggae DJ Ranking Joe was born Joseph Jackson in Kingston on June 1, 1959. Launching his recording career right around the time that the reggae/dub movement began sweeping the world during the mid-'70s, renowned producer Coxsone Dodd took Joe under his wing as he landed a DJ spot with a soundsystem called El Paso Hi-Fi. With Dodd overseeing Joe's early sessions, a debut single was issued in 1975 (under the name of Little Joe), "Gun Court." From there, Joe branched out and worked with a variety of other reggae producers (including Bunny Lee, Watty Burnett, and Derrick Howard), which resulted in forming a new soundsystem which included U-Roy, and a name change to Ranking Joe. It was also during this time that Joe developed his trademark: a vocal style that showcased his talent for reeling off speedy tongue twisters. Beginning in the late '70s, Joe recorded hits for other artists (including Sonia Pottinger's "Shine Eye Gal"), in addition to issuing his own albums (Weakheart Fade Away, Dub It in a Dance, Saturday Night Jamdown Syle, Round the World).
The dawn of the '80s saw Joe join in with one of the era's most acclaimed soundsystems, Ray Symbolic Hi-Fi (with Jah Screw), whose popularity spread far outside of Jamaica, resulting in a sold-out tour of the U.K. in 1980. Despite showing great promise, the soundsystem broke up a year later, which resulted in both Joe and DJ Screw teaming up and working as a production team for other artists (including being one of the last producers to work at King Tubby's infamous old studio, Dangerous Dub). After relocating to New York City (the Bronx, to be exact), Joe continued to produce recordings for other reggae artists, including Frankie Paul, Black Uhuru, Dennis Brown, Glen Washington, Glen Brown, The Meditations, King Tubby, Shinehead, and Papa San. The late '90s/early 2000s saw Ranking Joe resume his own recording career once more, issuing such further solo releases as Fast Forward to Africa, Ghetto People, and 3 the Roots Way. Ranking Joe's influence can be detected in such modern-day reggae artists as Beenie Man, Pan Head, and the aforementioned Papa San, among others.
Wikipedia:
Ranking Joe aka Little Joe (born Joseph Jackson, 1 July 1959, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae deejay who rose to prominence in the 1970s and had continuing success in the 1980s.
Biography
Jackson was initially inspired towards a musical career by his father, who operated a sound system. He attended secondary school with Winston McAnuff, U Brown and Earl Sixteen, and they would perform concerts. After starting out by toasting on the Smith The Weapon sound system, Jackson progressed to the El Paso sound system, where he performed under the name Little Joe (inspired by the character from Bonanza), inspired greatly by U-Roy. He first recorded for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One in 1974, releasing "Gun Court". Initially unsuccessful as a recording artist, he studied electronics before returning to recording in the mid-1970s with greater success, having a hit with "Honda 750", which was followed by singles such as "Psalm 54", "Natty Don't Make War" and the Bionic Man-tribute "Steve Austin". "Stop Your Coming and Come" provided the first deejay hit for Sly & Robbie's Taxi label. In the latter half of the 1970s he released three albums and also returned to sound system work with U-Roy's King Sturgav setup. His big break in international terms came in 1980, when the Ray Symbolic Hi Fi sound system, with which he was then the resident deejay, toured the United Kingdom, raising his profile and helping his Weakheart Fadeaway become a major seller for Greensleeves Records. A string of further albums followed in the early 1980s, which saw Joe move away from the "cultural" chants of his early work towards the "slackness" that had become popular. Ray Symbolic's death interrupted Joe's career, but he returned as a producer, with dubs of his productions released on the King Tubby albums Original King Key Dub and Dangerous Dub. He later moved to New York, setting up a record label, also named Ranking Joe, which provided an outlet for his productions. He proved to be a major influence on one of the most successful deejays of the early 1980s, Eek-A-Mouse.
