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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Leslie Kong

Producer. Ska, rocksteady, reggae

Active
1961-1971
Sunrise
1932 or 1933, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
August 1971 (heart attack)

Leslie Kong produced the records that first carried Jamaican music onto foreign charts. He was the first producer to record Bob Marley, and the first to have a hit with Jimmy Cliff. Cliff called him an unsung hero, and Derrick Morgan said, "He was very creative an' dat's why di songs he did with his artistes became international."

He was Chinese-Jamaican, educated at St. George's College in Kingston, and ran Beverley's on Orange Street with his brothers: a restaurant, ice cream parlor and record shop. In 1961 Cliff, then a teenager, talked his way in after closing and sang a song he had written called "Dearest Beverley"; Kong decided to go into recording, and Cliff's "Hurricane Hattie," from one of the first sessions, established Beverley's. Marley came to the shop soon afterward, brought by Cliff or by Desmond Dekker in different accounts, and Kong cut his first three records, "Judge Not," "One Cup of Coffee" and "Terror." Derrick Morgan, who had already had hits, worked as the shop's talent scout in the same period and sent Desmond Dekker to him.

Dekker became Kong's most successful artist. "007 (Shanty Town)" charted in Britain in 1967, and "Israelites" reached number one there in 1969 and the American top ten, which no Jamaican record had done. The rest of the catalog is comparably weighted: Toots and the Maytals' "54-46 That's My Number," "Monkey Man" and "Pressure Drop," the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon" and "Sweet Sensation," the Pioneers' "Long Shot Kick de Bucket," and Cliff's "Wonderful World, Beautiful People," "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Sitting in Limbo." Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson, Bruce Ruffin, the Gaylads and Peter Tosh also recorded for him.

He kept a standing session band, the Beverley's All-Stars, with Drumbago as musical director in the ska years and Roland Alphonso afterward; those musicians backed Paul Simon on "Mother and Child Reunion" in 1971. Kong licensed his masters to Island, Pyramid and Trojan for release in Britain, which is why so much of his catalog is better documented abroad than at home.

The Wailers recorded for him in 1969 or 1970, and Kong assembled the singles into an album called The Best of the Wailers. Bunny Wailer objected, on the grounds that a career summary was premature, and is said to have warned Kong that issuing it would kill him. Kong released it. He departed in August 1971 (the cause was a heart attack), and the story has followed the record ever since. Cliff's material for The Harder They Come, much of it Kong's work, appeared after his sunset.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Before Kong, Cliff had "already cut records for sound system operators Count Boysie and Sir Cavaliers," and told Bradley he had worked with "two other producers prior to Leslie Kong." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 32; Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 106-7. Bradley credits Cliff, working for Kong, with getting Marley "his first recording session." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 399.
  2. Howard Campbell, "When Kong Was King," Jamaica Observer, March 29, 2022, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2022/03/29/when-kong-was-king.
  3. The Rough Guide names his brothers as Fats and Cecil and the business as a restaurant at 135a Orange Street; Bradley describes "a combined ice-cream parlour, cosmetics boutique and record shop." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 32, 107; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 104. Wikipedia, citing Trojan Records, gives St. George's College. "Leslie Kong," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Kong.
  4. Cliff told Bradley he sang "Dearest Beverley" to "the three Kong brothers" "just as they were closing," that the first session, "in late 1961 or early 1962," produced no hits, and that "during our second session we got a hit record with my song 'Hurricane Hattie'." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 104-5. In Derrick Morgan's account in the Rough Guide, "We didn't do 'Dearest Beverley' yet"; the first session produced "Hurricane Hattie" and other hits, "an' deh so Beverley's start." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 32.
  5. Cliff told Bradley that Marley came "early in 1962," that he picked "Judge Not," "One Cup of Coffee," and "Terror" from the songs Marley sang, that Kong recorded them at Federal "a week or so later," and that "Terror" was never released. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 399-400. Katz gives other accounts: Dekker "spotted the talent of Marley, a fellow welder, and brought the youth to Kong's attention," and Marley, "told about Kong by Desmond Dekker," passed an audition conducted by Cliff and recorded his first songs for Kong in 1961: David Katz, "Desmond Dekker," Guardian, May 27, 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/may/27/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries; David Katz, "Cherry Green," Guardian, November 20, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/20/popandrock.
  6. The Rough Guide says Morgan "acted as its A&R man," and at one point in 1962 had seven records on Beverley's in the Jamaican radio Top Ten. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 33. Cliff told Bradley that he and Morgan auditioned singers in a West Kingston bar, that "Derrick Morgan was number one there," and that "Desmond came to Beverley's that way." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 399.
  7. Bradley calls "Israelites" "the first reggae number 1" in Britain, in 1969, after "007 (Shanty Town)" in 1967. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 241. The Rough Guide says Dekker "reached the #9 position in the US with 'Israelites', which was the first Jamaican-recorded song to break into the US chart." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 107.
  8. Bradley lists "54-46 That's My Number," "Pressure Drop," "Monkey Man," "Sweet Sensation," "The Rivers of Babylon," "Long Shot (Kick de Bucket)," and "Israelites," and says Kong "also cut reggae with the Wailers, Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson and the Gaylads." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 225. The Rough Guide notes the Melodians' "Sweet Sensation" in the UK charts in January 1970, and Bradley Cliff's "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" at number seven in November 1969. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 107; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 242. Bruce Ruffin is from Wikipedia. "Leslie Kong."
  9. In Morgan's account Kong rehearsed the first session with "the great drummer Arkland 'Drumbago' Parks," and Bradley calls "Forward March" "a Drumbago session." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 32; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 94. Wikipedia names Roland Alphonso's rocksteady instrumentals for Kong and an All-Stars nucleus including Jackie Jackson and Hux Brown. "Leslie Kong." Simon recorded "Mother and Child Reunion" at Dynamic "with Jimmy Cliff's backing group," including Hux Brown and Jackie Jackson. "Mother and Child Reunion," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Child_Reunion. Katz writes that Cliff's "Vietnam," recorded for Kong by a session band including Jackie Jackson, Hux Brown, Winston Wright and Gladdy Anderson, "inspired Paul Simon to work with Jackson and his peers": David Katz, "Jackie Jackson Obituary," Guardian, October 1, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/01/jackie-jackson-obituary.
  10. Bradley mentions "an exclusive contract with Leslie Kong" that gave Island Cliff, Dekker, Morgan, and "Robert Marley," and Graeme Goodall's Pyramid issuing "Israelites." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 130, 241. Wikipedia gives Island's Black Swan imprint from 1963, Pyramid from 1967, and Trojan after 1969. "Leslie Kong."
  11. The books differ on the year. The Rough Guide says Kong recorded "the album's worth of material" with the Wailers "in 1969": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 107. Katz says the group recorded the album for Kong "in 1970": Katz, "Jackie Jackson Obituary." Wikipedia instead says The Best of the Wailers was recorded in May 1970 and released in August 1971. "The Best of the Wailers," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_the_Wailers. Bunny Wailer's warning is reported there only as an allegation. "Leslie Kong."
  12. The Observer says he was 38 when he departed in August 1971; Wikipedia gives December 20, 1933 to August 9, 1971, which would make him 37. "Leslie Kong's Reggae Pioneer," Jamaica Observer, July 20, 2012, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2012/07/19/leslie-kongs-reggae-pioneer/.
  13. Bradley: "If he hadn't died of a heart attack in 1971, who knows how far he would have taken it?" Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 225. Wikipedia says he died a week after the album came out. "The Best of the Wailers."
  14. Wikipedia notes his cameo in The Harder They Come (1972) as the engineer at a Maytals session for "Sweet and Dandy," which he produced. "Leslie Kong."

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