Steve Barrow, British Chronicler of Jamaican Music, Dies at 80

Steve Barrow, the British musicologist whose work helped document the development of Jamaican music, died in the United Kingdom on May 30. He was 80.

Reports in the British press have highlighted the scale of his writing on Jamaican music history. Barrow also handled promotional work for major labels, including Trojan, Island and Blood And Fire Records.

In 1993, he started Blood And Fire Records with Mick Hucknall, the lead singer of Simply Red. The same year, Island Records issued Tougher Than Tough: The Story Of Jamaican Music, a box set for which Barrow wrote extensive liner notes.

Those notes earned strong approval from reggae followers. The four-CD collection is regarded as one of the key releases tracing the growth of Jamaican music.

Barrow also contributed to Black Echoes, a publication that documented the British reggae scene over many years. In 2012, he and Stuart Baker published Reggae Soundsystem: Original Reggae Album Cover Art, a 500-page work featuring more than 1,000 full-size 45 rpm record-label designs and album covers.

The UK newspaper The Independent ran a feature on the book and called it “a compelling history of a young nation and its people”. Barrow’s other books included The Rough Guide to Reggae, The Rough Guide Reggae: 100 Essential CDs, and King Jammy’s, which he wrote with Beth Lesser.