Wee Pow
Producer. Dancehall, reggae
- Active
- 1972-present
- Also known as
- Winston Powell, Winston "Wee Pow" Powell, Stone Love, Stone Love Movement, Father Pow
Winston "Wee Pow" Powell is the soundman who founded Stone Love, which the Rough Guide calls the most popular of Jamaica's modern sound systems, known for its exclusive specials and for its part in developing the "juggling" style of mixing.
He was doing electrical work as a young man when, in 1972, living on Molynes Road in Kingston, he got hold of a small home stereo and set about enlarging it: a co-worker, Winston Rhooms, helped him buy a bigger amplifier, and his cousin Charles Reid, a cabinetmaker, built the speaker boxes. He learned the rest by watching other soundmen. Stone Love grew into the leading set of the digital era, with Rory as its renowned selector and Noel Harper's Killamanjaro and Renaissance as its nearest rivals abroad; its tapes carried its reputation around the world. The deejay Red Dragon made his name on it, and the Admiral Bailey and Tiger dubplate "Dandruff" became one of the most popular specials in its history.
Like the sound-system men before him, Powell went into records, through the Stone Love and Father Pow labels. They had Wayne Wonder's "Only You," Spragga Benz's breakthrough "Jump Up and Swear," Beenie Man's "Gizada," Frankie Paul's comeback 45s of the mid-1990s, and Louie Culture's biggest hit, "Gangalee," and the label's "Corduroy" and "Baghdad" riddims were much versioned. Stone Love has played in Europe, Asia and Canada, holds its anniversary dances every year, and in 2022 Powell received a Guinness Sounds of Greatness award.
Last updated October 23, 2026
Connections
- Beenie Man (artist)
- Wayne Wonder (artist)
- Frankie Paul (artist)
- Spragga Benz (artist)
- Louie Culture (artist)
- Vybz Kartel (artist)
- Admiral Bailey (collaborator)
- Rory "Stone Love" Gilligan (deejay)
Notes
- Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 351.
- "Stone Love's Wee Pow Grateful for Guinness Sounds of Greatness Recognition Award," Jamaica Gleaner, September 2, 2022, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20220902/stone-loves-wee-pow-grateful-guinness-sounds-greatness-recognition.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 351. The Rough Guide wrote around 2004 that Stone Love had "been established for almost thirty years."
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 302; "Strong Movement at 45 Years," Jamaica Gleaner, January 2, 2018, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20180102/strong-movement-45-years.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 292-93, 316, 319, 322, 341-42, 350.
- "Stone Love's Wee Pow Grateful for Guinness Sounds of Greatness Recognition Award," Jamaica Gleaner, September 2, 2022, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20220902/stone-loves-wee-pow-grateful-guinness-sounds-greatness-recognition. "Stone Love Celebrates 52 Years," Jamaica Gleaner, January 1, 2025, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20250101/stone-love-celebrates-52-years.
