[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

 

Peter Broggs

 

 

 

I Know it must have been fate that special day when I first met Peter Broggs on Chancery Lane in Kingston, Jamaica. I had started RAS records a year earlier (1979) in the basement of my house right outside of Washington, DC and had begun importing records from Jamaica and distributing them throughout America. I had always believed that Jamaica had so much great music to offer, but there was not anyone with a serious American business that was effectively getting the music out to the Americans. I was a disc jockey at the time doing a reggae show called "Night Of The Living Dread" on WHFS, and that was my own little way of getting the music to the masses. The idea of importing records from Jamaica and getting them into stores seemed like a way of fulfilling this mission to a much larger degree, though.

It was on one of my many trips to Jamaica for this purpose that I was in Kingston and happened to be on Chancery Lane at Gregory Isaac's record shop (African Museum). I would go to Kingston regularly and buy records from Gregory or Techniques and bring them back to America to sell. Peter Broggs was hanging out on the lane in front of the shop, and when I was introduced to him, I told him how much I loved his music and that I was always playing his album on my radio show. He did not believe that I had ever heard of him, so I started to sing a few of his songs from the album. He was amazed! This first album "Progressive Youth" was produced by Bingy Bunny (an original member of the famous backing band Roots Radics), and is now rare and out of print. I had found my copy at Tower Records on Sunset ( LA, that is). Peter suggested we do an album. He said he could hook me up with the Roots Radics and record at Channel One Studio, where the hottest rhythms of the time were being made. He also mentioned that we had a mutual friend in Negril named Bongo who might be interested in financing the production. Around that time, I had just written two serious Rastafari inspired songs which I felt Peter could do justice to in singing. We went around the corner to a private place, and when I sung these songs to him, he was very moved and felt they were perfect for him. We agreed to meet on Negril (Peter is from Lucea, a town right down the road from Negril), Where we hooked up with the Bongo and came up with a budget and time we would record the first ever RAS album ever (Rastafari Liveth). (Doctor Dread)