World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Joe Gibbs

Producer. Rocksteady, reggae, dub

Active
1968-1985
Sunrise
1942 or 1943, St. James, Jamaica
Sunset
February 21, 2008, Kingston, Jamaica (heart attack)
Also recorded as
The Mighty Two
Also known as
Joe Gibbs Studio

Joe Gibbs, born Joel Arthur Gibson, was a producer whose partnership with the engineer Errol Thompson, billed as the Mighty Two, accounted for a large share of the Jamaican hits of the 1970s. He also built and ran one of Kingston's busiest studios.

He was born in St. James, studied electronics in Cuba, and worked as a technician for Stone and Webster in Montego Bay before opening a television repair shop on Beeston Street in Kingston. He began recording at the back of the shop on a two-track machine, working with Lee Perry, who had just left Coxsone Dodd. Roy Shirley's "Hold Them" gave him his first hit. Perry left after falling out with him and answered him with "People Funny Boy."

The operation moved twice more. Gibbs shifted to Duhaney Park and then, in 1972, to Retirement Crescent in the Cross Roads district. Errol Thompson came to him from Randy's. In 1975 he built a sixteen-track studio and a record pressing plant at 24 Retirement Crescent, which gave him recording, pressing, and distribution in one place. He released on his Amalgamated and Pressure Beat labels, later adding Crazy Joe, Reflections, Belmont, and Town and Country.

The sound was Thompson's work. He had come up through Studio One and Randy's, was among the first engineers to make dub records, and the Rough Guide says his dubs were what made Gibbs records essential for youth in the late 1970s. Niney the Observer had worked for Gibbs before him; the Thompson partnership lasted until Thompson's sunset in 2004, interrupted only by the collapse of the business in the 1980s. The house band, the Professionals, was built around Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare with Lloyd Parks, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont, and Ossie Hibbert.

Dennis Brown's "Money in My Pocket," Big Youth's "Ah So We Stay," Black Uhuru's "Eviction," Culture's Two Sevens Clash (1977), and the African Dub series came out of this arrangement. Others who recorded there for Gibbs include the Mighty Diamonds, Jacob Miller, Marcia Aitken, Althea and Donna, Cornell Campbell, Delroy Wilson, Beres Hammond, and Dean Fraser, along with a long line of deejays: Prince Far I, who had worked as the studio's security guard before recording "Under Heavy Manners" there, and Dillinger, Trinity, I-Roy, Prince Jazzbo, Ranking Joe, Clint Eastwood, and Prince Mohammed. Version culture was not invented here, having begun with Duke Reid and Ruddy Redwood in the late 1960s, but Gibbs and Thompson worked it harder than anyone, issuing vocal, deejay, and dub cuts of the same riddim as a matter of routine.

A lawsuit over "Someone Loves You Honey" ended the first phase of his career. The record, a reggae cover of a country song written by Don Devaney, was cut at his studio by J.C. Lodge with Clive Hunt producing, and Gibbs credited himself as its author. It sold heavily in the Netherlands, and the resulting action for unpaid royalties nearly bankrupted him and closed the studio in the early 1980s. He rebuilt at Retirement Crescent in 1993 and worked with Thompson again, set up Joe Gibbs Europe in 2005, and licensed his catalog to VP Records. His sons both worked in the business: Carl issued catalog reissues on his Rocky One label, and Stephen co-produced the "Hard Times" riddim with Thompson, Thompson's last project. Gibbs departed of a heart attack.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Bradley says that by the mid-1970s the Gibbs and Bunny Lee labels "had replaced the former Big Two of Studio One and Treasure Isle." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 349.
  2. Wikipedia, citing the Jamaica Gleaner, gives the birthplace, the Cuba training, and the Stone & Webster job. "Joe Gibbs (producer)," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gibbs_(producer). The Rough Guide says he came to music "selling records in his TV repair shop on Beeston Street." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 76. Salewicz gives his birthplace as Montego Bay and his birth year as 1943. Chris Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs: Producer of a String of Reggae Hits," Independent, March 3, 2008, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/joe-gibbs-producer-of-a-string-of-reggae-hits-790501.html.
  3. Bradley says he opened "his own two-track studio at the back of his record shop." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 331. The Rough Guide dates his first sessions, with Lynn Taitt's band and Perry supervising, to January 1967. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 76. Salewicz also gives 1967. Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."
  4. The Rough Guide calls "Hold Them" "Joe Gibbs' debut as a producer," but dates it to "mid-1966" in one place and implies early 1967 in another. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 56, 77, 76. Salewicz dates it to 1968. Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs." Bradley names it as the record with which "new boy Joe Gibbs made his mark." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 171. Katz says Gibbs, "a Kingston television repairman and record salesman," decided to begin producing after hearing Shirley, in 1967, and that "Hold Them" was cut at their first session. David Katz, "Roy Shirley," Guardian, August 28, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/aug/28/worldmusic.
  5. Bradley calls it "Lee Perry's rancorous departure" and says Gibbs took on Niney "to fill the little fellow's shoes as engineer and arranger." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 226. Salewicz notes Gibbs's answer record, "People Grudgeful." Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."
  6. The sources disagree on when Thompson arrived. The Rough Guide says he "had played a role at Gibbs' controls since the late 1960s, when Gibbs opened his studio in Duhaney Park," and elsewhere that he "stepped in after Niney's departure." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 160, 100. Bradley says Gibbs "poached Errol Thompson from Randy's as his house engineer" in 1975, when the sixteen-track studio opened. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 352, 331. Salewicz gives 1970; Wikipedia gives 1972. Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."; "Joe Gibbs (producer)."
  7. The Rough Guide and Salewicz both date the sixteen-track studio to 1975, and Salewicz mentions the pressing plant. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 160; Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."
  8. The Rough Guide lists Jogibs, Amalgamated, Pressure Beat, and Shock among the early labels; Bradley lists Joe Gibbs Record Globe, Belmont, Errol T, and Town & Country by the mid-1970s. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 100; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 349.
  9. The Rough Guide credits Thompson as "a pioneer of dub techniques," citing Java, Java, Java, Java (1973), and says that what made Gibbs records essential for youth in the late 1970s "were Errol Thompson's dubs." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 160, 162. Bradley says Thompson had been Randy's house engineer "practically since it opened in 1968." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 331. Salewicz writes that Gibbs "wasn't really responsible for the Joe Gibbs sound." Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."
  10. The Rough Guide says Niney produced for Gibbs "from mid-1968." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 100. Wikipedia says Gibbs and Thompson worked together again in the 1990s and 2000s. "Joe Gibbs (producer)."
  11. A musician quoted by Bradley recalls that once Gibbs opened at Retirement Crescent, "some of the Channel One musicians go down there to play in his band." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 355. The Rough Guide names Ossie Hibbert as heavily involved in the Professionals' sessions. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 163. Salewicz names Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar as the band's rhythm section. Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."
  12. The Rough Guide dates the first "Money In My Pocket" to 1972, notes Big Youth's "Ah So We Stay" commentary, and covers Two Sevens Clash and the four-volume African Dub series. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 100, 101, 163, 230. Bradley calls "Two Sevens Clash" "a Mighty Two (Gibbs' & Thompson) production." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 352. "Eviction" is from Wikipedia. "Joe Gibbs (producer)." Katz says Maurice "Blacka Morwell" Wellington of the Morwells, recruited as a producer at Gibbs's studio, "discovered Joseph Hill's group, Culture, and oversaw their classic debut sets." David Katz, "Maurice Wellington," Guardian, November 24, 2000, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/nov/24/guardianobituaries1.
  13. The Rough Guide names Marcia Aitken, Althea and Donna, Cornell Campbell, and the Mighty Diamonds, and among the deejays Trinity, Ranking Joe, Clint Eastwood, I-Roy, Dillinger, and Prince Far I, whose "Under Heavy Manners" was "his major hit for Gibbs." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 161, 162. Bradley adds Jacob Miller and others at Retirement Crescent. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 352.
  14. Bradley describes the late-1960s practice of issuing instrumental "versions," which producers including Gibbs adopted, and says Gibbs, Bunny Lee, and others sowed the seeds of later "versioning." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 313, 351.
  15. DancehallMag says Clive Hunt produced the record at Gibbs's studio in 1980, that the song was written by Don Devaney, and that Gibbs "had reportedly claimed all rights to the song." Claudia Gardner, "J.C. Lodge Still Feels the Sting of Producer Joe Gibbs' 'Dishonesty' Decades Later," DancehallMag, April 23, 2024, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2024/04/23/news/j-c-lodge-still-feels-the-sting-of-producer-joe-gibbs-dishonesty-decades-later.html. The Rough Guide calls it a version of "Charley Pride's US hit." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 283.
  16. The Rough Guide says it was "a song which, because of a question of unpaid royalties, brought an end to recordings from Gibbs." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 283. Lodge told Television Jamaica that Gibbs "got sued, and because of that, he lost his business." Gardner, "J.C. Lodge Still Feels the Sting." Katz says Gibbs licensed the record to Arista for overseas release and that, having credited himself as its writer, he faced a copyright lawsuit "which nearly bankrupted him." David Katz, "Country Music in Jamaica," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, May 25, 2015, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/05/reggae-country-feature. Salewicz and Bradley say he later moved to Miami. Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs."; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 498.
  17. Wikipedia says that before his death Gibbs went into business with Chris Chin of VP Records. "Joe Gibbs (producer)." The Rough Guide notes that "the man's son" compiled his early catalogue on the Rocky One label. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 101.
  18. Wikipedia gives February 22, 2008, and a heart attack. "Joe Gibbs (producer)." DancehallMag says he died at the University Hospital of the West Indies at sixty-five; Salewicz gives February 21 and Miami. Gardner, "J.C. Lodge Still Feels the Sting."; Salewicz, "Joe Gibbs." He departed on Thursday, February 21, 2008, at the University Hospital of the West Indies. "Producer Joe Gibbs Dead at 65," Jamaica Gleaner, February 26, 2008, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080226/ent/ent4.html. The Gleaner later gave October 14, 1942, Salt Spring, St. James, for his birth and February 22 for his sunset; Chris Salewicz gives 1943, Montego Bay, and February 21. "Unbreakable: Joe Gibbs Produces Almost Unmatched String of Hits," Jamaica Gleaner, October 20, 2013, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131020/ent/ent4.html.

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map