Category: Marley

Paying Respects To Bob Marley’s Former Manager And “Godfather” The New York Times called the late Danny Sims “one of the people most responsible for Bob Marley’s success who has gotten the least amount of notice for it.” Sims himself described his relationship with Marley thus: “I guess I was his Godfather—that is in the street sense—I looked out for him.” Of course the Tuff Gong could take care of himself, but Sims definitely helped Marley reach new audiences through his connections in the R&B world. In his Marley biography, Catch A Fire, Timothy White writes that “Sims was the man who would put Bob’s unique sound on the airwaves. Yet he was always trying to dissuade Bob from actually recording reggae—and ‘message’ reggae at that. The chief way he saw Bob Marley being a money-maker was, in his own words, ‘in a rhythm-and-blues, Top Forty style.’ As Sims himself boasted to a reporter from the Village Voice: ‘I discouraged Bob from doing the revolutionary stuff. I’m a commercial guy. I want to sell songs to thirteen-year-old girls, not to guys throwing spears.’” Whatever else you may think of him, cllearly Danny Sims was not afraid to speak his mind. Born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Sims’ entry into the music business came with the opening of Sapphire, the first black club in Manhattan. He formed a promotions company, Hemisphere, at the behest of Johnny Nash. The companywas responsible for all the top stars of the day – Sammy Davis, Brook Benton, Ben E. King, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding – he worked with everyone from Mohammed Ali to Malcolm X. Hemisphere later absorbed Dinah Washington’s Queens label creating one of the biggest African-American agencies of the time. In the 1960s Danny formed a label with Nash called JODA, later to become JAD, and it was to this label that both the Wailers and Bob Marley signed. The Wailers would often stay at Danny’s house in Jamaica while he was away. Fellow performers such as Gloria Gaynor, Lloyd Price, Betty Wright and English musician Rabbit (Marley, Free, the Who) also found a home on JAD. Sims died last month at the age of 75, and his contributions to music are still not fully understood. Here’s a quick overview of the man’s musical legacy. Audio After The Jump…

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