Long live the King!
THE life and times of dub legend Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock is recalled in King Tubby –The Limited Deluxe Edition by French writer Thibault Ehrengardt.
Published by his company DREAD Editions, it will be released in May. As its subtitle implies, the initial print run has a limit of 400 copies.
King Tubby, who is world famous for his prowess as a studio engineer and sound system operator, was murdered at his home in Washington Gardens, Kingston, in February 1989. He was 48 years old.
A trained electrician, he used creative methods to fine-tune the songs of top producers such as Lee “Scratch” Perry and Bunny Lee. Those innovations led to the birth of dub and influenced a new wave of engineers including Lloyd “King Jammy” James and Bobby Digital.
“The Limited Deluxe Edition” contains 176 photographs, including 47 that have never been published.
Ehrengardt is a respected figure in European reggae. He is the former publisher and chief editor of Natty Dread, a popular French magazine, and current head of DREAD Editions.
That company has published another book on Ruddock (King Tubby — The Dub Master) in French.
A regular visitor to Jamaica, he has written several books about reggae and Jamaica including The History of Jamaica From 1494 to 1838 and Gangs of Jamaica The Babylonian Wars.
From 1995 to 2011, Ehrengardt was editor of Natty Dread, a glossy publication that came out every two months in France. Published in French, it had a circulation of 25,000 copies.
His first book, Jamaican Greats: Lives of Famous & Notorious Jamaicans, was released in 2014.