NORMA DODD... he definitely wouldn't like me to close down any part of the business for any period of time, so I definitely won't do that

"Don't be downhearted, things will go on because that is what Mr Dodd would have wanted me to do and I have to do it," is the message from Norma Dodd, widow of Jamaican pop music pioneer, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, who died suddenly on Tuesday.

She made the point as she sat with friends and associates of the late founder of Studio One Records/Jamaica Recording and Publishing Company (JAMREC) at their base, 13 Studio One Boulevard (Brentford Road) on Wednesday.

Mrs Dodd said that the only break will be the closure of the studio for the next two weeks until after his burial. But, in the meantime, all other businesses at the company, including exports, will continue, as usual.

"He definitely wouldn't like me to close down any part of the business for any period of time, so I definitely won't do that," she insisted.

A veteran of the music business herself, she had been married to Dodd for the past 42 years. She started out running their original base, Music City, Orange Street in the 1960s, when Dodd moved up to the then new headquarters at Brentford Road.

By the early 1970s, when they decided to close down the Orange Street shop and move the entire business to 13 Brentford Road, she moved too and took charge of the accounting.

The Dodds have three daughters - Sandra, 39, Carol, 37 and Tanya, 35 - all of whom live in New York and manage the Studio One Record Shop on Fulton Street in Brooklyn.

Incidentally, Dodd was scheduled to leave the island by May 14 to attend one of the girls' graduation from Nassau Community College, where she had been studying business law and accounts.

Mrs Dodd insists that things will continue as usual. Copyright infringements, including the use of vintage rhythms created by Studio One by current producers, will continue to be closely monitored by the company's lawyers. The company will also continue its own distribution in the United States and through Soul Jazz in the United Kingdom.

One of Dodd's other children who has remained with him at Studio One over the years is Courtney, still works there as a studio engineer.

A number of new CDs, including a much-anticipated Jackie Mittoo album, should be out by the summer and the 50th anniversary celebrations, which began in January will also continue. However, there is no final word yet on a proposed anniversary show, which Dodd had been discussing with promoter/photographer Marvin "Horseman" Pitterson just hours before he died.

Dozens of people passed through the premises Wednesday paying their respect to his memory, and to his widow, including fellow record producer Bunny "Striker" Lee, who felt that Dodd was "one of a kind".

"We will never have producers like him and Duke Reid again. I see him and Duke Reid as the two greatest record producers we have ever had. They started the business. He was the first Black man to put up a studio and pressing plant and remember he nurtured Bob Marley and the Wailers," Lee recalled.

Merlene Webber, who started recording with Dodd while she was still a teenager attending the Greenwich Town Primary School, remembered that he paid both her lunch money and bus fare, daily.

"He was a wonderful, wonderful man. He treated me with respect," she said.

Merlene was one-half of the duo, the Webber Sisters, which also included Cynthia Webber, and whose hits included Come Back To Me Pretty Baby and Let There Be Love.

Brent Dowe, who regarded Dodd as a "father and a friend", had just finished working on his first album in years with Studio One when he died.

But, it was journeyman percussionist and entertainer, Bongo Herman, who best explained the loss of the musical giant.

"I always rally roun' him. I even perform at the ceremony for the renaming of Brentford Road to Studio One Boulevard last week. The week before I carry all ripe banana and water coconuts,me buy on my way from country for him. Is through him a lot of Jamaican artistes can now benefit from the music.
I have nothing bad to say about him. He was a good man," Herman said.

CLEMENT DODD'S ACHIEVEMENTS

1952 Founded Sir Coxsone's Downbeat sound system (disco)

1954 Founded Studio One Records

1985 Won Canadian Reggae Award

1987 Won British Reggae Industry Award

1991 Awarded Jamaican national honour of Order Distinction (OD)

1995 Inducted into the Reggae Hall of Fame

1996 Awarded United Broadcasting Association's living Legend Award

1998 Awarded Key to the City of Hartford, Connecticut

2002 Awarded Gold Musgrave Medal

2003 Awarded Key to City of Hollywood, California/Nanny Quao Award (from Portland Maroon community)/Caribbe

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