Winston 'Merritone' Blake

Well supported

Winston 'Merritone' Blake (1940-2016) was a Jamaican sound-system operator, promoter and nightclub owner who, with his brothers, ran Merritone, Jamaica's oldest continuously operating sound system, founded by their father Val Blake in 1950. Predating reggae, Merritone helped shape the transition through R&B, mento, ska, rocksteady and beyond, and Blake was a respected elder statesman of the sound-system tradition.