Wilbert Augustus Campbell (12 August 1931 – 19 May 2014),George Ruddock
"Jamaican Club Legend Count Suckle Died From 'Heart Attack'"
''The Voice'', 27 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014 known as Count Suckle, was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

-born sound system operator and

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album '' kelsea'' Brands and enterprise ...

owner who was influential in the development of ska and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

music, and African-Caribbean culture, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Biography

He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in poverty as one of thirteen children. His friends included Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon and Vincent "Duke Vin" Forbes. He began supplying records for sound system operator

Tom the Great Sebastian Tom the Great Sebastian was an early Jamaican sound system started by Tom Wong in 1950, named for a trapeze performer in Barnum and Bailey's circus. The group has been called "the all-time giant of sound systems" and helped launch several notable ...

, and in 1952 he, Vin and Lenny Fry stowed away on a banana boat. They reached

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where they settled in

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given t ...

.Carl Gayle
"The Reggae Underground, part 6"
first published in ''Black Music'' July 1974, vol. 1, issue 8. Retrieved 6 April 2013.David Katz
"Count Suckle obituary"
''The Guardian'', 4 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014. By about 1956 he was running the Count Suckle Sound System in competition with the one established by Duke Vin, with whom he had several sound clashes. Suckle built up a large following within the African-Caribbean community by playing at private parties, and began attracting an audience of white musicians through his bookings at the Flamingo Club in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

.Count Suckle – obituary
''The Daily Telegraph'', 11 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014. In 1961, he became the resident DJ at the Roaring Twenties club at

50 Carnaby Street 50 Carnaby Street in London's Soho district was the site of several important music clubs in the 20th century.Prince Buster Cecil Bustamente Campbell (24 May 1938 – 8 September 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary ...

in Jamaica as well as R&B

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

s in the US. His clientele included mods and leading white musicians

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the onl ...

, the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

Lloyd Bradley Lloyd Bradley (born 21 January 1955) is a British music journalist and author. Biography Born in London to recent immigrants from St Kitts, Bradley discovered Jamaican music during his teenage years, while going out in the North London-based ...

''Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King''
Penguin UK, 2001. However, the club was regularly targeted by police raids. In 1964 he began managing his own club, the Cue (later Q) club at 5a Praed Street,

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

."Soho: a brief history of the area"
Sixties City. Retrieved 7 April 2013. This played a mixture of ska,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

and funk music, as well as featuring live performances by leading Jamaican and American musicians including Prince Buster and

Edwin Starr Charles Edwin Hatcher (January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003), known by his stage name Edwin Starr, was an American singer and songwriter. Starr was famous for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number-one ...

. In 1970 he also ran Q Records, a short-lived subsidiary of the

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

record label. In 1974, Suckle said of the club:

We lead the field because we've always moved with the times at the Q club. When we opened ska music was the thing, Prince Buster, Don Drummond, Reco,
Tommy McCook Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One S ...
,
Roland Alphonso Roland Alphonso OD or Rolando Alphonso "The Chief Musician" (12 January 1931 – 20 November 1998)Thompson, p. 262 was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist, and one of the founding members of the Skatalites. Biography Born in Havana, Cuba, Alphonso c ...
,
Baba Brooks Oswald "Baba" Brooks (born c.1935) was a trumpet player who played jazz in the 1950s with the Eric Dean orchestra and recorded during the 1960s original Jamaican ska era for producers Duke Reid, Sonia Pottinger and her husband Lindon, King Ed ...
y'know. They all played here when they toured London. We played all the latest things and the new dances caught on quick.... The Q club is international so we have to mix the records. A few years ago soul was the thing so we used to play more soul.... You just got to stay with the times. If they wanna hear reggae we'll play reggae, if they want rock and roll we'll play it... .

The Q Club changed its name to the People's Club in 1981, and finally closed in 1986, when Suckle retired. In 2008, Suckle contributed to the documentary film ''Duke Vin, Count Suckle and the Birth of Ska'', directed by Gus Berger.''Duke Vin and the Birth of Ska''
Retrieved 7 April 2013. Count Suckle died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

on 19 May 2014 at his home in

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman roads in Britain, Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road ...

, London.

References

External links

1967 poster for Edwin Starr at Count Suckle's Cue Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suckle, Count 1931 births 2014 deaths People from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican sound systems British DJs