Linval Thompson

Jamaican reggae and dub musician, record producer, and label owner.

Thompson was born October 12, 1954 in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised by his mother in Queens, New York. He began his recording career in New York with [r=5911496]. Returning to Jamaica in the mid 1970s he recorded with [a=Phil Pratt], only to return to New York to study engineering. Returning again to Jamaica, he worked with [a41272] at his Black Ark studio, recording [r=3816993]. He recorded with [a=Bunny Lee] which resulted in his debut album [m=374808] in 1976. Thompson began producing his own material, including [m=151398] (1978) and dub album [m=821084], both released on [l2068]. Although he continued to work as a singer, he became increasingly prominent as a producer, working with key artists of the late roots and early dancehall era such as Dennis Brown, Cornell Campbell, The Wailing Souls, Barrington Levy, and Trinity, with releases through Trojan Records as well as his own [l63555], [l57939], [l540653], [l944166], and [l216342] labels.

Thompson's productions were used as the basis of some of [a33468]'s best-known dub albums. He has also produced albums for Eek-A-Mouse, Freddie McGregor, Tristan Palmer and The Viceroys.