Bunny 'Striker' Lee

Edward O'Sullivan Lee (23 August 1941 – 6 October 2020), better known by the name Bunny "Striker" Lee, was a Jamaican record producer.

Biography

Lee was a pioneer of the United Kingdom reggae market, licensing his productions to the Palmer Brothers (Pama) and Trojan Records in the early 1970s.

Lee was instrumental in producing early dub music, working with his friend and dub pioneer King Tubby in the early 1970s. Lee and Tubby were experimenting with new production techniques, which Lee described as "implements of sound." Working with equipment that today would be considered primitive and limiting, they produced tracks that consisted of mostly the rhythm parts mixed with distorted or altered versions of a song.

Lee encouraged Tubby to mix increasingly wild dubs, sometimes including sound effects such as thunder claps and gunshots. In addition to King Tubby, dub mixers Prince Jammy and Philip Smart also worked extensively on Lee's productions, with most of Lee's dubs from 1976 onwards mixed by Jammy.

By 1977, Joe Gibbs and Channel One Studios, with the Hookim Brothers, became "the place to be", reducing Lee's prominence. However, during the late 1970s, Lee produced almost every deejay, notably Dennis Alcapone, U-Roy, I-Roy, Prince Jazzbo, U Brown, Dr Alimantado, Jah Stitch, Trinity, and Tapper Zukie. Most of these were quick productions, usually to classic Studio One or Treasure Isle riddims. The aim was to get deejay versions on the street quickly, and they were usually voiced at Tubby's studio in the Waterhouse district of Kingston. In the early 1980s, Lee purchased Gibbs' studio in Duhaney Park and continued producing, albeit on a less prolific basis than in the 1970s.

In 1983, Lee produced the first album by future star Beenie Man, titled "The Invincible Beany Man (The 10 Year Old D.J. Wonder)".

In 2013, a documentary film was released, I Am The Gorgon – Bunny 'Striker' Lee and the Roots of Reggae, directed by Diggory Kenrick, telling the story of Lee's life from childhood to the present, featuring U Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, Johnny Clarke, John Holt and others.

Bunny Lee had one son, Errol, with singer Marlene Webber. Errol Lee (born 27 August 1968) runs a non-profit organisation, Caring Kids' Concerts, which mentors young people using music.

Death

Lee's death was reported on 7 October 2020. He had been suffering from kidney problems for some months and died from "respiratory failure" according to Annette Wong-Lee, mother to four of his children. He was 79.