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Dennis Bovell
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Dennis Bovell is a reggae guitarist, bassist and producer who was born in Barbados in 1953 and moved to South London in 1965. There he became devoted to Jamaican culture, above all to dub music, and set up his own sound system, Jah Sufferer. That led to trouble with the police, and he spent six months on remand before being released on appeal. He played in a progressive rock group that later became the British reggae band Matumbi, and recorded dub reggae himself under his own name.
Music and breakthrough
He worked as an engineer at Dip Records, the forerunner of the label Lovers Rock, and played a key role in the early years of the lovers rock genre. His best-known production is Silly Games by Janet Kay, in which he tried to combine disco rhythms with reggae. As a producer he worked with a wide range of artists, including Creation Rebel, I-Roy, the Thompson Twins, Bananarama, The Pop Group, Fela Kuti, The Slits, Orange Juice and Madness. For the greater part of his career he worked with the poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. In 1980 he wrote the music for the film Babylon. In 2020 he had a cameo in Lovers Rock, a film in Steve McQueen's Small Axe series, in which Silly Games features prominently. In 2021 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
Influence
Bovell shows how Caribbean music in London acquired a British sound of its own, and that as a producer he also helped pop bands such as The Pop Group and The Slits.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1981Brain Damage
- 1986Audio Active
- 1993Dub Dem Silly
- 1993Tactics
- 1995Dub Dem Silly
- 2006All Over the World
- 2007Corean-jamaican Connection Destination: London Lounge
- 2011Ghosts Outside
- 2012Mek It Run
- 2017DNS and Friends
- 2018Love Overdue
- 2019Akoustik
- 2021@ Repulse "Reggae Classics"
- 2024Sufferer Sounds
- 2025Dennis Bovell: Wise Music in Dub
- 2026Cloud Music
- ?All Over the World
- ?Dub of Ages