Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Island Records' founder, Chris Blackwell, says there is little chance of him returning to the music business full-time, pointing out that the contemporary scene's instant-sales regime does not mesh with his policy of artiste development.

Blackwell, who will be inducted into the Private Sector Organisa-tion of Jamaica's Hall of Fame later this month, spoke to The Sunday Gleaner last week.

"What we've got now is a situation where every label now ope-rates like a major label where they are looking for big sales. If you're a Wall Street company and you're looking at third-quarter profits, you have to think like that," Blackwell explained.

He added: "I believe an artiste needs nurturing for a long-term career."

Commercial success

Island, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, was one of the music industry's most powerful independent companies, along with Motown and Stax. Although he had commercial success with acts like the Spencer Davis Group and Cat Stephens, Blackwell earned a reputation of a development specialist with progressive artistes including Bob Marley and the Wailers and King Crimson.

He said he met Marley in 1972 after Jimmy Cliff, the man he believed would have been reggae's first superstar, left Island. While he was keen on the Wailers, Blackwell said even Marley was eyeing immediate chart success.

"He was big into people like (soul singer) Johnny Nash and badly wanted a hit on the black charts in America," Blackwell recalled. "I told him it wasn't going to happen, and that they would be more effective as a rock band. I thought Bob could be the next Jimi Hendrix."

It would not be until the 1974 album, Natty Dread, that Island saw any momentum with Marley and the Wailers. Blackwell's long-term policy continued with other reggae acts, such as Third World, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse and Aswad, who all found fame through non-stop touring.

Impressive catalogue

In the 1990s when he launched Island Jamaica Records, none of the label's artistes, including Luciano and Beenie Man, returned massive sales but added to Island's already impressive reggae catalogue. Several reggae performers, once signed to Island, appeared on the label's 50th anniversary show in London in May.

Blackwell, who was born in London to an Irish father and a Jamaican mother, came to Jamaica when he was six months old. He started Island in Kingston in 1959, but moved to London three years later. Today, he operates Island Outpost, a leisure conglomerate comprising properties in St Andrew, St Mary, St Elizabeth,

Portland and Negril.

He says constant travelling prevents him from listening to new sounds coming out of Jamaica, although he recently heard something exciting.

"It's a song called Children by Sizzla; it's unreleased," he said. "It's brilliant, a masterpiece."