GOING back to its early days, reggae has never been short on quality engineers: Syd Bucknor, Osbourne ‘King Tubby’ Ruddock, and Overton ‘Scientist’ Brown are some of them. The latter, an unsung hero of Jamaican music, will be honoured by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association’s (JaRIA) annual awards ceremony on February 28.

A protégé of Ruddock, Scientist’ was at the controls for many hit songs during the late 1970s and early 1980s when he worked at Studio One and Channel One. He was engineer on songs such as Oh Mr DC by Sugar Minott, Nice up the Dance (Michigan and Smiley), Armagideon Time (Willi Williams), Collie Weed (Barrington Levy), Ice Cream Love (Johnny Osbourne) and Yellowman’s Mad Over Me.

Bass player Errol ‘Flabba Holt’ Carter of the Roots Radics Band worked on numerous sessions with Scientist at Channel One. He described him as a “good likkle youth”. “The thing wid Scientist, him really creative, always a try different things. When him come Channel One, him did willing fi learn,” said Carter.

The 54-year-old Scientist, who is from Harbour View in St Andrew, now lives in Washington, DC, where he is an active engineer. The JaRIA awards will be held at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston.