Dear Editor,

King Stitt was and is my friend, teacher and mentor. I say this because his musical contribution, like his soul, will never die but will always be present to remind and inspire us who love the music that Africans in Jamaica produced. Winston Sparks is the name on his birth certificate, but the name King Stitt is the one that is known internationally.

As a young man, I remember attending the dances in Spanish Town where King Stitt played Sir Coxsone’s sound which was owned by the world’s greatest record producer. His ability to galvanise the adoring crowds with lyrics as he selected and operated the sound system simultaneously was unrivalled. He was a master of selection and in any sound clash he was devastating. He knew the records or wax, later called dubplates, to draw and when to draw or play them. His introductions of what he was about to play each time was peerless. Count Machukie who recruited and trained King Stitt was of course an inspiration and mentor for me as well. It was at a dance in Central Kingston that Count Machukie who was playing Sir Coxsone’s sound saw Stitt, a “legsman”, dancing brilliantly to the tunes he was playing and asked Stitt if he wanted to be a deejay. Stitt told Count that he did not know about being a deejay and Count told him that the way he was dancing to the music he was sure he would make an excellent deejay and that he the Count would teach him.

Over the years King Stitt promoted music throughout Jamaica with Sir Coxsone’s sound. I recall a clash dance at Pieceaman Lawn on the Old Harbour Road in Spanish Town in 1967 when Sir Coxsone and Stereo owned by the genius sound builder from Spanish Town, Seymour Williams, clashed with King Stitt deejaying for Sir Coxsone and Prince Mango for Stereo.

Stereo was the heavier and cleaner sound by far, but Coxsone had the music. That night King Stitt unleashed numerous “brand new biscuits”, as he called the waxes, to counteract Stereo’s majestic sound excellence that Stitt gracefully admitted to. That was the night that Ernest Wilson of the Clarendonians had his first solo song Undying Love played exclusively on wax, of course. That was the night that Sitting On the Dock of the Bay by The Heptones was first played exclusively on wax – new tunes like sand.

Guess what? King Stitt and Prince Mango never ever cursed any bad words like some deejays now who delight in using bad words and dirtying up the music. King Stitt was the first deejay to popularise deejaying on records with tunes like Fire Corner, Vigorton 2 and Herbman Shuffle, etc, yet he has not been given an OD by PNP and JLP governments for his priceless contributions to Jamaican music nationally and internationally, and neither Count Machukie nor Duke Vin, aka Shine Shoes Vinnie, when he played Tom the Great Sebastian Sound. It was Vinnie who gave Machukie the chance to be a deejay and Vinnie started the first sound in Britain in 1955. These three pioneers must be honoured, because artistes who began their careers in the 1980s long after have been given ODs on account of political favouritism, it seems.

King Stitt, you will always be my beloved friend, elder brother, adviser, mentor and teacher. Until we meet again, King Stitt, in the next Sound Dimension with Sir D the greatest producer. Long live the king, King Stitt.

Mandingo Williams

Mandingonewsandviews@yahoo.co.uk