Katz reopens book on ‘Scratch’ Perry
An expanded version of American author David Katz’s book, People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee “Scratch” Perry , will be released on December 2 by White Rabbit Books. It will initially be released in the United Kingdom.
‘People Funny Boy’ is considered the most comprehensive work on the legendary music producer, who died in August at age 85. It was first released in 2000, followed by a revised version six years later.
“I started working on the new edition in the spring of 2020, just as we were heading into the first [COVID-19] lockdown, and the inability to travel and to socialise really helped me focus on the task at hand. So, although I was really looking forward to Calabash 2020, being in the bunker of my office space at home with the text each day really focused the mind and allowed me to flesh out what was missing from previous editions,” Katz told the Jamaica Observer.
Calabash refers to the biannual literary festival which is held in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.
Katz, who is based in London, said he conducted a number of interviews with Perry since the revised edition. Some took place at the producer’s winter home in Negril; others, at his Blue Ark home studio in Switzerland.
Those conversations comprised the bulk of the manuscript for the expanded publication, but Perry’s death in Jamaica last summer forced Katz to go back to the drawing board.
“I needed to change the ending at short notice, which was challenging. While working on the text during the last 18 months, when things were unclear I often contacted Perry to double-check the facts but, of course, that was no longer an option. Thankfully, peers and family members were still in touch to help fill in the blanks,” he explained.
The San Francisco-born Katz first met Perry in his hometown in 1987. Perry was impressed by a magazine article Katz wrote about him and requested a meeting between the two. Many interviews and countless hours of research resulted in a definitive biography that looks at Perry’s early years in his native Hanover, apprenticeship with producer Clement “Coxson” Dodd, relationship with The Wailers and other artistes, and impact on the punk movement in the United Kingdom.
People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee “Scratch” Perry is Katz’s first book. His second, the expansive Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Jamaican Music, was released in 2003.
