Arrows Int'l Hi Fi was formed in the year 1965 by three adventurous and talented kids born and raised at 19 West Avenue, Newton Square; Kingston 16 Jamaica. The three kids were Ivan (Sonny) Linton, Phillip (Bilbo) Linton and Robert (RO) Johnson. We were all schooled at Rollington Town Junior and Vauxhall Senior Schools, after graduation Robert secured a job with Kelvinator Electronics, Ivan entered Excelsior High School and Phillip entered Kingston Technical High School.
It was during the Vauxhall years the name Arrows was adopted, it came by an accident; at home Robert was called by the first two initials of his name (RO), but in school he was mistakenly called (Arrow).
Robert was the Electronic brain who built the first amplifier for the sound from a “Grundig” Radio and used a “Garrard” Turntable to play our 78 RPM records at the time, our speaker boxes were made of Sardine Cases with 8” Speakers. Seeing that Robert was responsible for the transfer of audio from vinyl to the speakers by his genius innovation we decided to give the sound his mistaken name “Arrow’s Disco”.
The discotheque era had us playing Reggae & Soul music at private parties and weddings up to the year 1970 and our first big tune was “The Vow”, we played it at a wedding in 1965 about six times; that was fulfilling back then and even now.
Our sister Marjorie (ML) Linton along with the late Winston Sterling of Joe Gibbs Records were instrumental in providing the records for the sound during this era. Just to let you know that the pre-historic Radio and Sardine box system only lasted a few months into our tenure, we then graduated to making a small tube amplifier and building our speaker boxes with plywood.
In the year 1970 we were introduced to a technician in Jones Town, his name was Aston (Soul King) Lindo. King, as we would later call him, was responsible for the dangerous sound of our three pieces of tube amplifiers; Bass, Mid. and Treble. Built into the treble amplifier were a spring reverb section and a wicked mike stage that was never duplicated by any other sound in the world. We also acquired a few pieces of Transistor Amplifiers from a good friend of ours in Papine name Gladston "Kicho" Young, who's sound was I-Roy The President.
It was still in early 70’s that we adopted the style of playing Dub Plates with hardcore reggae and rub-a-dub music; we got our exclusive tunes from producers & Studios namely Studio 1, Treasure Isle, Channel 1,Tubby’s, Bunny Lee, Carlton & Aston Barrett (Wailers), Phil Pratt, and many more just to name a few.
In Eastern Kingston at the time were a few sound systems playing Dub Plates, namely Prince Patrick, John The President, and Arrows.
It was not long after, that Jackie (Prince Patrick) Birch decided to migrate to Canada; we bought his Dub Plate collection and acquired his DJ, an old school mate of ours, Delroy (Crutches) Jones.
The very first dance we played as a “Dub” sound was promoted by Bobby “El Bebo” Phillips, it was held at a lawn on Milk Avenue in Rollington Town around 1971, it was really a life changing experience; that night we won the hearts and following of the hundreds who were in attendance with the type and style of music we played, our whole life changed from there on. We found ourselves playing all over the country every Friday and Saturday nights, Public Holidays, and some mid-week nights for the next fifteen years. We were the very first sound, and still is the only sound, in the world to tour Europe and the United States in the 80's with the full system in a container on a trailer; returned to Jamaica and played in all 14 Parishes in 14 consecutive weeks, to earn the title "The World's Greatest Sound".
Along the way we acquired DJs such as Puddy Roots, Hugo Brown, Captain Sinbad, Boney, ZuZu, Major Worries, Nigger Charlie, Liberty, Shaka Shamba, Joe Mannix, Mello Ranks, Chicken Chest, Bennie Man, Cutty Ranks and Professor Nuts just to name a few; singers Leroy Gibbon and Scion Success and selectors Zaggalu and Papa Screw. We played by ourselves as well as in clashes, which saw us up against the best of the best sounds in Jamaica and the world; sounds like Tipper-Tone, Jammy’s, Emperor Faith, Jack Ruby, Sir Norman, Killer Tone, Saxone and Unity in London England, Down Beat The Ruler and Earthquake in New York USA, Stereophonic, Volcano, Metro Media, Black Star, Killaman Jaro, Black Scorpio, Youthman Promotion and Sons Junior, just to name a few.
Speaking of Lawrence "Jack Ruby" Lindo, I would like to let you know that he was our mentor and our source of inspiration to enter and stay in the sound business for so long; as kids in the 60’s he would take us to listen his sound play at a club on Molynes Rd. name The Trap.
Inspirational credit goes out also to sounds like Lady G’s, V.J The Dub Master, Coxsone Down Beat, Duke Reid The Trojan, Top Deck, Sir Percy The Welterweight, Sir George The Atomic, Tom The Great Sebastian, El Suzy A Go-Go, Merritone, Swing Disk, Supreme Of Love, Sanatone, Stan The Soul Merchant and King Tubby’s, just to name a few.
Special thanks to our parents Ditta (Ma-Cool) Linton and the late and great Roy (Da-Cool) Linton for making everything possible, respect goes out to our dear and best friends Curtis (Tenna) Mellis and Neville (Junior) Thompson who started out with us and has remained our dear friends today.
To our beloved brother Phillip (Bilbo) Linton, rest-in-peace, you will always be ARROWS forever.
Last but not the least, to our world wide devoted fans, blessed love to you all and thanks for your support over the years..
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