ENTITY · PERSON
Bunny Lee
Probable
Edward O'Sullivan "Bunny 'Striker'" Lee (1941-2020) was one of Jamaica's most prolific reggae producers, active from the late 1960s through the 1980s. Starting as a record plugger for Duke Reid and Leslie Kong, he scored his first hit with Roy Shirley's "Music Field" (1967) and went on to record hundreds of tracks with his session band the Aggrovators, popularising the "flying cymbals" (flyers) hi-hat sound. A key early collaborator of King Tubby, Lee was central to the birth of dub and helped open the UK market via Trojan; he was awarded the Order of Distinction in 2008.
At a glance
- Type
- person
- Confidence
- Probable
- Era
- Open era →
Connections
Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
debate
Who invented dub: the engineer at the desk or the producer who commissioned it?
A documented question of authorship around the birth of dub, framed neutrally and concerning figures now deceased: one account credits King Tubby, the engineer whose electronics and desk technique made the sound, as dub's creator; another emphasises the producers, such as Bunny Lee, who commissioned and directed the version B-sides. Stated as an open historical debate, taking no side. Sources: Michael Veal, Dub; David Katz, Solid Foundation.
Stance: King Tubby the engineer as creator of dub vs the producers who commissioned and directed the versions