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Published: 3 July 2008

Ron’s reggae icons in the studio

Ron Vester’s snaps tell the inside story of a legendary Jamaican record label, writes Dan Carrier

IT has the air of an abandoned storeroom in a light industrial unit: but from these humble surroundings the record label dubbed “the Motown of Jamaica” poured out global hit after global hit.
And now a new exhibition touring Camden’s libraries over the summer chronicles the secret stories behind Studio One, the record company that was home to the island’s reggae icons.
Belsize Park-based photographer Ron Vester has close connections to Jamaica, visiting and then living there from the 1970s onwards. After becoming friends with ska singer Chandley Duffus, he was taken to Studio One to meet the founder Coxsone Dodd – the George Martin of reggae.
“I first turned up and Coxsone was introduced,” says Ron. “I remember arriving and this pleasant-looking man with a slight limp ambled over and said: ‘Hello, I’m Clement Seymour Dodd. Welcome to Studio One’.”
It became the start of many visits, during which Ron would pop in on a Thursday, hang out and listen to the island’s leading musicians cutting records, rehearsing or simply jamming.
At the time Ron was working as a photographer for newspapers, The Jamaican Tourist Board and the Jamaican National Heritage Foundation. After a few visits, he asked Coxsone if he could take a few pictures.
“He looked at me and asked if there was anything in it for him,” recalls Ron. “I said nothing at all – and he broke out laughing and said ‘snap away’.”
Ron would carry his camera to each Thursday session and the result is a unique look behind the scenes of the place that the leading proponents of reggae music called home.
He became the label’s official photographer and his work graces hundreds of album covers. But it is the shots he took of the stars of Jamaican music resting or playing that brings home the importance of his work. Many of the musicians featured have passed away and have become part of the genre folklore.
“Clement Seymour Dodd died in his studio in May 2004,” recalls Ron. “I left the island a month later.”

* Studio One Love – a photographic record of Jamaican Reggae Icons, is at Holborn Library, Theobalds Road WC1X from July 9. It will also be displayed at Heath Library, NW3 from August 4, Kentish Town Library NW5 from September 2, Swiss Cottage Library NW3 from October 1, and Kilburn Library NW6 from November 4. Ron’s full collection can be viewed at www.urbanimage.com

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