BLUE BEAT RECORDS
During the fifties there was an influx of Jamaican immigrants into England and with them they brought their music. By the sixties the younger members of these families brought that music into the west end clubs like The Scene and the Flamingo and the white mods soon latched onto the dances and the rhythm. It was an old mate of mine called Ziggy Jackson who set up the Blue Beat label in 1960 and released Jamaican Blues records by budding artists like Keith and Enid, The Jivin' Juniors, Laurel Aitken,and Derrick Morgan among others. These early releases were largely up tempo Boogie rhythms or the slower Doo-Wop inspired R&B songs which were popular at that time, The first record to be released on Blue Beat was Laurel Aitkens"Boogie Rock" and it all started from there.
Known firstly as Ska and then Bluebeat, the music was taken on by the mods who loved to dance, especially to anything by Prince Buster such as his hits "Madness" and "The Ten Commandments" which were still being played by the youth in years to come.
The Bluebeat label was there along with Sue as an independent label that would never get played by the BBC until the end of the decade. The mods knew their music and where to get it. I doubt without the mod movement people like Bob Marley and other Jamaican artists would have become the stars they did and that in some way they helped reggae music become so popular around the world. Lets hear it for Chris Blackwell and Ziggy Jackson!
Click below to see a list of Bluebeat singles released in the UK.

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