King Stitt

About me:

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, on September 17, 1940 under the name of Winston Sparks, earned the nickname of Stitt as a child and decided to use it in artistic career. The "King" part came after he was crowned the "king of the deejays" somewhere in the early part of his career. King Stitt began his career like many of his compatriots at Studio One. He was influenced by DJs and radio programs coming out of Miami and New Orleans. In 1957 he operated the sound system that would lead to Studio One: The Coxson's Downbeat. He is the oldest Jamaican dj still alive. His soundsystem was the one of the first in Jamaican music, starting as the third of the "Big Three Deejays of Coxson's" (behind Count Machuki and Red Hopeton). King Stitt was born with a facial deformity, but he reverted to calling himself "The Ugly One" in reference to the Lee Van Cleef character in the Italian Sergio Leone movie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", a classic among spaghetti westerns. The Ugly One musically scorched on in halls and festivals during the 60s in Jamaica with his performances with Coxson's Downbeat. At the time, he and U-Roy (who was also working with Coxson) made several presentations together, King Stitt doing the first set and U-Roy doing the second. King Stitt was also one of the first Jamaican deejays to use the microphone for talking on top of versions. Along with Count Machuki, King Stitt's influence would lead to Scorch reggae; and along with U-Roy,the King's style influenced the development of dub, not to mention the influence it had on the devopment of American rap at the end of 70, early 80's. Despite being hugely popular in Jamaica, King Stitt never had his material recorded by Coxson until he teamed up with producer and singer Clancy Eccles. After the King started scoring hits Coxson started recorded everything from the pioneering DJ. Once he started recording with Clancy Eccles, King Stitt started a string of incredible tracks. Incredible not only because of his Ugliness's unique and joyful enthusiasm, but also because of the fabulous Studio One riddims used as backing. Many of them were recorded with a backing band known as "The Dynamite" which included Winston Wright and Hux Brown on keyboards and guitars. Clancy Eccles had a string of hits with King Stitt with the release of "Dance Beat", "Vigorton Two" and "Herbsman Shuffle". In England Trojan revealed the King's genius by issuing singles of "Lee Van Cleef" and "Fire Corner". In the middle 90s, he started "Dancehall 63", where the Ugly One did 60s-style toasting on top of classic Studio One riddims, including The Maytals, Don Drummond, Joe Higgs, and Roland Alphonse, among others. The Jamaican Reggae Gold CD release by King Stitt"Reggae Fire Corner" features much of his classic work, including several songs from rare 7" singles.If you want to see King Stitt in action, check out YouTube, or buy the awesome DVD/CD "Studio One Story" (Soul Jazz), where the King gave several interviews and appears toasting over versions...INCREDIBLE!