Sugar Minott puts his business in order

HOWARD CAMPBELL Observer writer

Sugar Minott
A horde [?] of Rastafarians and rude boys are gathered round a table in the backyard of Youth Promotions. Sugar Minott, king of the court, holds centrestage as he diligently knifes a stalk of ganja.

Minott is founder of the company and proclaimed godfather to many of these aspiring entertainers, some of whom will be appearing at the singer's annual Reggae In The Hills show at Harkers Hall in St Catherine on Christmas Day.

Several of the show's established performers are also graduates of Youth Promotions, a talent initiative Minott started back in 1983. Tony Rebel, Junior Reid, Little John, Tristan Palmer, Shalom and Yami Bolo all started out at the Robert Crescent base which still attracts budding talent from, as Minott puts it, "all over the globe".

His head covered by a stocking-type turban, Minott leaves his agricultural pursuit for a more formal position behind the mixing board of the Youth Promotions studio. For close to 20 years he has harnessed the careers of major talent here, including the late Tenor Saw and Garnet Silk and he's showing no sign of slowing down.

"Production nice, yuh nuh, wi have album wid all the artiste dem. Wi mek music every day," said the burly Minott.

"Wi trying to establish the Black Roots (his promotion company) more worldwide; wi have a office inna France a deal wid things. Wi trying fi set up one inna Miami and England," he added.

After 30 years in the music business, Minott is attempting to put his house in order by formalising the massive catalogue he has built with Youth Promotions. Over the years, he says, that catalogue has not been done justice by independent record companies with which he has signed licensing agreements.

"Wi been licensing music over the years and wi get some advance but the returns and royalties not that good," he stated. "Once yuh nuh have the right lawyer and manager things kinda hard."

Minott disclosed that he had considered approaching well-known impressario, Don Taylor, for advice two years ago. But Taylor -- who managed Bob Marley for six years and helped resurrect Gregory Isaacs' career in the mid-1990s -- died of heart complications in 1999.

According to Minott, his work as a performer and producer caused him to neglect, at times, the administrative side of his career and Youth Promotions, particularly in the 1980s when he was one of the leading names in the dancehall.

Though most times the artistes used crude equipment, Youth Promotions still produced albums that are considered among the best recorded in the history of grassroots reggae. These include Tenor Saw's Fever, Barry Brown's Presenting Barry Brown, Palmer's Presenting Tristan Palmer and Reid's Original Foreign Mind.

Minott estimates that 50 of his own albums are in that catalogue including Music For The Roots Lovers and Ghettology, the set that announced him as a producer in 1979. He had just left the waning Studio One, the studio where he made his name in the late 1970s with underground hits like Never Gonna Give Jah Up, Oh Mr DC and Vanity.

With the legendary Soul Syndicate band backing many of his recording sessions, Minott maintained his reputation as a solid underground performer. He had hits with No Vacancy, Lovers Race and Dancehall Stylee and finally came mainstream with Sly and Robbie-produced Herbman Hustling, a computer jam that remains part of his live set.

For all his popularity in the 1980s, Minott was never able to shake his rootsman image at a time when major North American companies were eyeing home-grown reggae acts. Like many roots performers, his music has been distributed through independent channels, something he says that can hurt an artiste financially.

"If a company not up to certain standard yuh haffi call dem one million time fi royalty statement," he lamented. "When it do come, yuh haffi tek their word for it 'cause yuh nuh have the proper people to investigate."

Minott is confident he has the proper people in place for his Harkers Hall event. Proceeds from the show go to the Youth Promotions School of Music, the Maxfield Park Children's Home and the Harker's Hall Youth Organisation.