Studio One
Coxsone Dodd’s Brentford Road workshop: ska, rocksteady, reggae and generations of singers tested against the dance. Few rooms shaped more of Jamaica’s recorded vocabulary.
GO DEEPER
Clement “Coxsone” Dodd came to recording through sound-system competition. When imported American R&B could no longer satisfy the dances, he began cutting Jamaican music for his own systems, then built a studio on Brentford Road in Kingston in 1962 and launched the Studio One label from there. The room became a meeting place for musicians who helped define ska, rocksteady and reggae. The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo, Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Heptones, Bob Marley & The Wailers and many others passed through its sessions. Just as important as the individual records were the bass lines, riddims and arrangements that later generations kept returning to. Studio One is less a chapter than a musical vocabulary Jamaican artists have been quoting, versioning and arguing with ever since.
Where the history is argued
- Studio One’s own history calls the studio the birthplace of rocksteady. Rocksteady emerged through a wider network of musicians, producers and studios, so the room is treated here as central rather than as a single uncontested birthplace.
How they stand with the others
Came togetherStudio One grew directly from Coxsone Dodd’s sound-system business and the need for fresh Jamaican records.
Came togetherIts catalog became a reusable storehouse of bass lines and riddims for later reggae and dancehall producers.
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Last checked 1 September 2026