World of Jamaican Music

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Aquarius

Studio. Reggae

Active
1969-1970s

Aquarius was a record shop and label in Half Way Tree, Kingston, opened in 1969 and run by Herman Chin Loy, a cousin of the producer Leslie Kong. Chin Loy had worked at Kong's Beverley's shop before setting up on his own.

The label is best known for Augustus Pablo's first recordings. Chin Loy had already been using "Augustus Pablo" as a house name for keyboard instrumentals by Lloyd Charmers and Glen Adams when the teenage Horace Swaby, a schoolfriend of Clive Chin, came into the shop in 1969. Accounts of the audition differ, some describing a borrowed melodica and others crediting Swaby's keyboard playing, but it led to a session at Randy's Studio 17 that produced "Iggy Iggy." Swaby kept the name as his own.

Further Aquarius sides followed, among them "The Red Sea," "Song of the East," and "East of the River Nile," on which Pablo alternates melodica and organ solos over a riddim Chin Loy had bought from Lee Perry.

Chin Loy also recorded Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis, and Bruce Ruffin, whose "Rain" reached the UK top twenty. In 1973 he issued Aquarius Dub, one of the earliest full dub albums, which he mixed himself at Dynamic Sounds; a second volume appeared the following year.

Last updated October 21, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. On Chin Loy as Kong's cousin and his Aquarius label, Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 113. Accounts of the ownership differ. Rodney writes that the shop "was owned by Kingston residents Lloyd and Daphne Chin-Loy," with Herman as its promoter: Dave Rodney, "Razzle-Dazzle at Aquarius Record Store in Kingston," Sunday Gleaner, May 24, 2020, http://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20200524/razzle-dazzle-aquarius-record-store-kingston. Wikipedia says Lloyd Chin-Loy, Herman's half-brother, opened it in 1969 and brought Herman in to run the retail side: "Herman Chin Loy," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Chin_Loy. Hawks credits Herman with opening it: Harry Hawks, "Aquarius," label profile, ReggaeCollector.com, updated October 18, 2013, https://www.reggaecollector.com/en/feature/label.php?label_id=493.
  2. Chin Loy recalled being left "at Beverley's on Princess Street" as a boy, where his brother Ali already worked, and later working at KG's record shop "for about three years" before taking the Aquarius premises: Herman Chin Loy, interview by Rich Lowe, "Herman Chin Loy," Small Axe Reggae, 2023, accessed October 1, 2026, https://sites.google.com/view/smallaxereggae/herman-chin-loy
  3. Barrow and Dalton describe "Iggy Iggy" as "the 1969 debut of one Horace Swaby, who took on the house name that the producer used for many of his discs featuring a keyboards player": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 113; on Clive Chin as Pablo's "friend since schooldays," 114. Bradley also dates Chin Loy's first recording of Swaby to 1969: Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 330. Chin Loy names Lloyd Charmers as "the first Augustus Pablo": Chin Loy, interview by Lowe. Wikipedia adds Glen Adams: "Augustus Pablo," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Pablo. Hawks, by contrast, dates the meeting in the shop to 1971: Hawks, "Aquarius."
  4. Chin Loy recalled that Swaby "was talking about playing piano for me" but "had a melodica in his pocket": Chin Loy, interview by Lowe. Wikipedia says a schoolgirl at Kingston College had lent him the melodica: "Augustus Pablo," Wikipedia. Hawks places the "Iggy Iggy" session at Randy's Studio 17 the following week: Hawks, "Aquarius."
  5. Barrow and Dalton describe the first cut of "East of the River Nile" as Pablo "alternating rudimentary but spooky solos on melodica and organ": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 113; see also Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 268.
  6. Hawks says "Rain" sold over 100,000 copies and reached number 19 in the UK in the summer of 1971, and that Dennis Brown recorded "Song My Mother Used to Sing" for the label: Hawks, "Aquarius." On Alton Ellis's "Alton's Official Daughter," Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 221.
  7. Barrow and Dalton count Aquarius Dub among the three contenders for the first dub album, all from 1973, and say it was "probably mixed by the producer himself": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 221; see also Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 330. Chin Loy says it was recorded at Dynamic Sounds and that "I mixed it in about half an hour": Chin Loy, interview by Lowe.

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