Rory "Stone Love" Gilligan
Producer. Dancehall, revival
- Active
- 1980s-present
- Also known as
- Rory Stonelove, Rory Stone Love, Rory Gilligan
Rory Gilligan, known as Rory Stone Love, is the long-time anchor of Stone Love, the sound system Winston "Wee Pow" Powell founded, and a producer of the reggae revival. A young selector when he joined the sound in the late 1980s, he changed its profile, playing the "bashment" late-night hours.
As a selector he is known for his juggling and his smooth, distinctive patter on the microphone: "nobody plays sound quite like Rory," in LargeUp's words. By the mid-2010s he played only a few times a year, at special events, leaving the regular dances to Geefus and Billy Slaughter while he spent more of his time in the studio.
He produced Jah9's debut album, New Name (2013), on his own label, and played a large part in her rise. His Zeen riddim carried Samory I's "Take Me Oh Jah," which led to Samory I's album Black Gold (2017) on Gilligan's Black Dub label.
Last updated October 21, 2026
Connections
Notes
- "Selector's Choice: Rory Gilligan (Stone Love)," LargeUp, December 17, 2014, https://www.largeup.com/2014/12/17/selectors-choice-rory-stonelove/, which calls him "the long-time anchor of Jamaica's most celebrated sound system." On Stone Love's founding, see the Wee Pow entry.
- Eddie Stats, "System Clash: Stone Love Movement," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, May 8, 2013, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/05/system-clash-stone-love-movement/, quoting Escoffery: "Rory was the bashment selector that came on like 1, 2 in the night."
- "Selector's Choice," quoting him: "I space myself to like four times a year."
- "Selector's Choice." Basil Walters, "Jah 9: New Name in Roots-Reggae," Jamaica Observer, February 28, 2013, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2013/02/28/jah-9-new-name-in-roots-reggae.
- See the Samory I entry and its sources.
