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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Treasure Isle

Studio. Ska, rocksteady, reggae

Active
1962-1975

Treasure Isle was Duke Reid's studio and label, the other half of the rivalry with Studio One, and the room where rocksteady was made.

Arthur "Duke" Reid (July 21, 1915 - January 1, 1975) was a policeman for ten years before leaving the force to help his wife Lucille run the family grocery and liquor store. By the mid-1950s he was running Duke Reid's the Trojan, one of the two great sound systems, named for the flatbed truck that carried it, and had a radio program called Treasure Isle Time. He began producing to feed the sound, recording at other people's studios, and in 1965 opened his own in the loft above the shop at 33 Bond Street. He was known for carrying guns and for firing them into the ceiling when a session was going badly.

Reid's nephew Errol Brown learned engineering there from Byron Smith in the late 1960s. The house band was Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, with McCook and Lynn Taitt also arranging. Releases were spread across the Treasure Isle, Duke Reid and Dutchess labels, and from 1967 Trojan Records was set up in Britain, named after his sound, initially to issue his records there.

The ska years were productive, but the label overtook Studio One when the beat slowed in 1966. The peak run, from 1966 to 1968, is Alton Ellis, the Paragons, Phyllis Dillon, the Melodians, the Jamaicans, Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, the Silvertones and the Techniques. Harry Hawks credits the wooden construction of the Bond Street room with the warmth of its records, and Bunny Lee remembered Reid making performers repeat their takes, telling them to "Listen again."

The label's second life came from its own back catalog. U-Roy's toasts over Treasure Isle riddims in 1970 sold in quantities nobody expected and established the deejay record as a form, which is the studio's largest single influence on what followed. Dennis Alcapone recorded in the same way.

Reid fell seriously ill in 1974 and sold the label to Sonia Pottinger, who spent most of the late 1970s reissuing the catalog. He departed on New Year's Day 1975. The Paragons' "The Tide Is High" became an international number one for Blondie in 1980, and producers have gone on recutting the riddims ever since.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Bradley: "the years between 1966 and 1968 really were all about Treasure Isle"; he calls Reid "rocksteady's most prominent and most fondly remembered producer." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 171, 186.
  2. Bradley says Reid, a former policeman, opened the Treasure Isle liquor store with his wife in the early 1950s "in the same tough downtown area he had patrolled for ten years." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 29. The Rough Guide names his wife Lucille. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 18.
  3. Bradley says the sound was "apparently named after the model of Bedford truck he used to haul his gear around." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 29. See also Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 18.
  4. Bradley says Reid promoted the store "by sponsoring the R&B radio show Treasure Isle Time" and fronted it himself. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 29.
  5. Bradley says Reid began producing his own sessions at Federal in 1957. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 41.
  6. The Rough Guide: "Duke did not build his studio until 1965, when he installed facilities over his liquor store." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 37. Bradley gives the address as 33 Bond Street. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 166.
  7. A singer recalled to the Rough Guide that "when the studio session wasn't going well, he drew his gun and fired shots in the ceiling. To dispense with the evil spirits, was his idea." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 67. Bradley describes him never without "at least two guns close to hand." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 31.
  8. Brown told Taylor that "Duke was my mom's brother"; Taylor dates his learning the trade "from Byron Smith" to the late 1960s. Angus Taylor, "Errol Brown: Treasure Isle, Interview Part I," Reggaeville, accessed October 21, 2026, https://www.reggaeville.com/artist-details/culture/news/view/errol-brown-treasure-isle-interview-part-i/. The Rough Guide mentions Byron Smith as a producer. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 125, 131.
  9. The Rough Guide names Ernest Ranglin, Lynn Taitt, Tommy McCook and Herman Marquis in Reid's session band. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 64. Bradley says Taitt became "a permanent fixture" at Bond Street and "consolidated the rocksteady style" there. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 166.
  10. The Rough Guide names Reid's labels as Treasure Isle, Dutchess, Trojan and Duke Reid. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 18, 64. Bradley describes B&C and Island launching a Treasure Isle label in Britain that "kicked off with the Techniques' 'You Don't Care'." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 239. Wikipedia dates Trojan Records to 1968, launched "as an imprint for Duke Reid productions." "Trojan Records," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Records.
  11. The Rough Guide says Reid issued ska "without ever quite dethroning Clement Dodd at Studio One," and "recorded proto-rocksteady in 1966." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 64.
  12. The Rough Guide and Bradley list these acts among Treasure Isle's rocksteady hitmakers. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 64-68; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 172.
  13. Harry Hawks, "Treasure Isle," featured label, Reggaerecord.com, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.reggaerecord.com/en/content/featured_label.php?id=43.
  14. Bradley describes Reid re-voicing his rocksteady rhythms with U-Roy through 1970. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 297-98. The Rough Guide notes "previously-unheard deejay versions by U-Roy and Dennis Alcapone & Lizzy" on a Treasure Isle compilation. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 68.
  15. Wikipedia says that after a cancer diagnosis Reid "decided to sell Treasure Isle to Sonia Pottinger." "Duke Reid." Bradley says she "spent most of the late 1970s" reissuing his catalog. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 351.
  16. Wikipedia gives January 1, 1975. "Duke Reid."
  17. The Official Charts Company lists Blondie's "The Tide Is High" entering the UK chart on November 8, 1980, and reaching No. 1. "The Tide Is High," singles search, Official Charts, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/the%20tide%20is%20high/.

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