The thanksgiving service for the life of broadcaster, sound system operator and author Lou Gooden, takes place today at House of Tranquility Funeral Home Chapel, Orange Street, Kingston. Gooden, who had a long career in the music industry, died February 7, at age 81, at Kingston Public Hospital.

Citing privacy, his family did not give the cause of death.

Born in Kingston, Gooden started as an understudy sound system selector to Thomas “Tom The Great Sebastian” Wong. After his time with Wong, he worked with West Indies Recording Company and Studio One, followed by promotional stints at the Epiphany nightclub in Kingston and Hedonism II in Negril.

Gooden migrated to the United States in the 1980s and began a new career in radio. Two of the stations he worked with were WNWK 105.9 FM and WRTN 93.5 FM, both in New York.

He had a second run with Studio One in the early 1990s when the legendary label increased its profile in the US and Europe through a distribution deal with American independent company, Heartbeat Records. Gooden returned to Jamaica in 2002 and wrote two books: Reggae Heritage: Jamaica’s Music History, Culture & Politics, released in 2003 and Dancehall Sound Systems (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugliest), which came out in 2012.

Gooden, who also worked at Bess FM in Kingston, is survived by four children, grandchildren, three sisters and three brothers.

— Howard Campbell