Penthouse
Studio. Dancehall, reggae
- Active
- 1987-present
- Also known as
- Penthouse Records, Penthouse Studio
Penthouse is Donovan Germain's studio and record label at 56 Slipe Pen Road in Kingston, next door to Gussie Clarke's Music Works, and in the Rough Guide's account the source, with Music Works, of "a more considered ragga."
Germain financed it with the British lovers rock hits he had produced from London, among them Audrey Hall's "One Dance Won't Do," and set up the studio in Kingston in 1987; the Observer dates the label's launch to his return home in 1988. His model was Studio One: "Coxsone Dodd was my idol, you knew his sound anywhere you heard it," he said, and he wanted the same for Penthouse. To draw attention he brought in established singers: Marcia Griffiths from 1986, Tony Rebel from 1988, Beres Hammond from 1989, whose "Tempted to Touch" was the first of his Penthouse records. The late-1980s records were known for a clean, bright sound, and the engineers who trained under Stephen Stanley there, among them Tony and Dave Kelly, went on to careers as producers.
From 1990 Germain built a stable of deejays: Cutty Ranks and Tony Rebel, who shared the first Penthouse album, Die Hard; Mad Cobra; and later Capleton, Terry Ganzie, Beenie Man, Lady Saw, Spragga Benz, Terror Fabulous and Buccaneer. None matched Buju Banton, who recorded most often, and best, at Penthouse, his cuts released alongside as many as nine other versions of Germain's hottest rhythms. Singers flourished there too: Wayne Wonder, Sanchez and Garnett Silk, and later Romain Virgo. The Dancehall Hits compilations collected the studio's output, and in 2014 VP issued a 47-song anthology for its twenty-fifth anniversary. In 2023 Guinness honored it among Jamaica's historic recording studios.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Donovan Germain (founder)
- Buccaneer (artist)
- The Firehouse Crew (session work)
- Mafia & Fluxy (session work)
- Beres Hammond (recorded here)
- Marcia Griffiths (recorded here)
- Buju Banton (recorded here)
- Beenie Man (recorded here)
- Wayne Wonder (recorded here)
- Tony Rebel (recorded here)
- Capleton (recorded here)
- Dave Kelly (worked here)
- Garnett Silk (recorded here)
- Sanchez (recorded here)
- Lady Saw (recorded here)
- Pinchers (recorded here)
- Cutty Ranks (recorded here)
- Mad Cobra (recorded here)
- Terror Fabulous (recorded here)
- Thriller U (recorded here)
- Romain Virgo (recorded here)
- Bushman (recorded here)
- Jahmali (recorded here)
Notes
- Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 312.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 312. Howard Campbell, "Penthouse Marks 25 Years," Jamaica Observer, November 23, 2013, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2013/11/23/penthouse-marks-25-years/. Angus Taylor, "Interview with Donovan Germain: 25 Years Penthouse Records," Reggaeville, February 19, 2014, https://www.reggaeville.com/artist-details/beres-hammond/news/view/interview-with-donovan-germain-25-years-penthouse-records/, in which Germain credits the British hits with funding the label.
- Guillaume Huyard, "Interview: Donovan Germain," United Reggae, April 7, 2010, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n355/040710/interview-donovan-germain.
- Taylor, "Interview with Donovan Germain," quoting him: "Marcia Griffiths was at Penthouse from 1986, Beres Hammond from '89, Tony Rebel from '88."
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 313. Taylor, "Interview with Donovan Germain." Campbell, "Penthouse Marks 25 Years," on the Kelly brothers. See also the Dave Kelly entry.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 313-15.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 313. Campbell, "Penthouse Marks 25 Years."
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 313. Campbell, "Penthouse Marks 25 Years." "Guinness Honours Recording Studios," Jamaica Observer, July 20, 2023, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2023/07/20/guinness-honours-recording-studios.
