Bunny “Striker” Lee: The Hitmaker Who Helped Shape Reggae and Dub

From Kingston’s recording studios to sound systems across Britain, Bunny Lee transformed Jamaican rhythms into an international musical language.

Researched by The Reggae Institute
The Reggae Museum Journal

Few producers generated records with the speed, instinct and lasting influence of Edward O’Sullivan Lee, better known as Bunny “Striker” Lee. One of the most prolific figures in Jamaican music, Lee helped guide reggae through several important stages—from the closing years of ska and the rise of rocksteady to roots reggae, dub and early dancehall.

His nickname, “Striker,” reflected his reputation for repeatedly striking the Jamaican charts with hit records. Yet Bunny Lee’s legacy cannot be measured by commercial success alone. He recognized exceptional voices, assembled influential musicians and understood how one rhythm could be transformed into numerous recordings. His work contributed to a production culture that would eventually influence remixing, hip-hop and electronic music around the world.

From Record Plugger to Record Producer

Bunny Lee was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on August 23, 1941, and grew up in the Greenwich Farm community. His entry into the music industry came during the early 1960s, when he worked as a record plugger for Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle operation.

A record plugger’s job was essential in Jamaica’s competitive music industry. Lee carried recordings to radio stations and sound-system operators, encouraging selectors and broadcasters to play the latest releases. The position allowed him to observe how records were promoted, how audiences reacted to new rhythms and how music moved between recording studios, sound systems and the streets.

Lee subsequently worked around producers and music entrepreneurs such as Leslie Kong and Ken Lack before financing and producing recordings of his own. Roy Shirley’s “Music Field,” released in 1967, became one of his earliest successes.

During the late 1960s, Lee emerged as a major independent producer through recordings by Slim Smith, Pat Kelly, Derrick Morgan, Lester Sterling, Stranger Cole, The Sensations and The Uniques. The Uniques’ “My Conversation,” featuring Slim Smith’s unmistakable lead vocal, became one of the enduring recordings associated with his early career.

A Producer with an Ear for Hits

Bunny Lee possessed an instinctive understanding of singers, rhythms and the Jamaican record-buying public. His productions helped deliver important recordings including Max Romeo’s “Wet Dream,” Delroy Wilson’s “Better Must Come,” John Holt’s “Stick By Me” and Eric Donaldson’s “Cherry Oh Baby.”

“Cherry Oh Baby,” the winning song in Jamaica’s 1971 Festival Song Competition, later reached a much wider international audience through cover versions, including a recording by The Rolling Stones. The journey of the song demonstrated the growing global reach of Jamaican composition and production.

Lee worked with an extraordinary range of singers and deejays, including Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke, Jackie Edwards, Owen Gray, Leroy Smart, Linval Thompson, Dennis Alcapone, Prince Jazzbo, U-Roy, I-Roy, Dr. Alimantado, Jah Stitch, Trinity and U Brown.

Rather than being defined by one vocalist or one label, Bunny Lee created a broad musical network. He released records through several imprints, including Jackpot, Justice, Lee’s and Striker Lee, while licensing productions to other companies.

Johnny Clarke and the “Flying Cymbal” Era

One of Bunny Lee’s most important artistic partnerships was with singer Johnny Clarke. Together, they created a powerful body of work during the 1970s, including “None Shall Escape the Judgement” and “Move Out a Babylon.”

These recordings became closely associated with the “flying cymbal,” or “flyers,” sound—a distinctive open-and-closed hi-hat pattern that gave the rhythm a sweeping sense of movement. Drummer Carlton “Santa” Davis became strongly identified with the style, although its history also includes the earlier rhythmic contributions of Jamaican drummer Winston Grennan.

Lee recognized the sound’s commercial and creative power and used it across numerous productions. The approach became one of the defining features of mid-1970s reggae and was soon adopted by other producers and musicians.

The Aggrovators, Lee’s principal group of session musicians, supplied the instrumental foundation for many of these recordings. Although the group’s personnel changed across sessions, its members included some of Jamaica’s most accomplished musicians.

Bunny Lee, King Tubby and the Development of Dub

Bunny Lee’s relationship with engineer Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock represents one of his most historically significant contributions to Jamaican music.

King Tubby treated the mixing console as a creative instrument. Vocal tracks could be removed, drums and bass brought forward, and fragments of melody surrounded by echo, reverb and unexpected moments of silence. Bunny Lee supplied Tubby with a vast collection of rhythms that could be reconstructed into new sonic experiences.

Their work helped establish dub as more than an instrumental version of an existing song. In Tubby’s hands, Lee’s productions became spacious and experimental compositions in which the engineer actively reshaped the music.

Albums such as Dub from the Roots and The Roots of Dub documented the creative relationship between Lee’s rhythms and King Tubby’s mixing. Prince Jammy and Philip Smart were among the other influential engineers who mixed versions of Bunny Lee productions.

This culture of transforming existing recordings would have consequences far beyond Jamaica. Dub’s emphasis on bass, rhythm, studio manipulation and multiple versions anticipated techniques later heard in hip-hop, dance music and modern remix culture.

The Art of the Version

Bunny Lee understood that a successful rhythm did not have to support only one recording. The same instrumental foundation could be voiced by another singer, transformed by a deejay or stripped down and reconstructed as a dub.

Part of this practice was economic. Lee did not initially own a recording studio, so he needed to maximize every paid session. But what began as practical resourcefulness became an influential creative method.

One rhythm could produce several related works:

An original vocal recording
A second singer’s interpretation
A deejay performance
An instrumental version
A radically restructured dub mix

Each version offered audiences a new way to experience the same musical foundation. Sound systems could move between the vocal, deejay and dub cuts, creating an unfolding musical conversation on the dance floor.

This process became central to reggae and dancehall production and remains one of Jamaica’s most influential contributions to global popular music.

Carrying Reggae Beyond Jamaica

Bunny Lee also played an important part in strengthening reggae’s presence in Britain. He licensed productions to British companies such as Pama and Trojan Records, helping Jamaican recordings reach Caribbean communities and a growing international audience.

Britain was already becoming a vital market for ska, rocksteady and reggae. Lee’s business relationships ensured that his productions—and the work of the Jamaican singers, musicians and engineers behind them—circulated far beyond the island.

His success demonstrated that an independent Jamaican producer could operate within an international marketplace while remaining connected to Kingston’s fast-moving recording culture.

Recognition and Later Years

Although Bunny Lee’s greatest period of chart dominance occurred during the late 1960s and 1970s, his involvement in Jamaican music continued for decades. His catalog documents the work of generations of singers, musicians, deejays and engineers.

The 2013 documentary I Am the Gorgon: Bunny “Striker” Lee and the Roots of Reggae presented his story through interviews with Lee and many of the artists connected to his career. Its title referenced one of his best-known nicknames: “The Gorgon.”

In 2008, the Government of Jamaica awarded Bunny Lee the Order of Distinction in recognition of his contribution to the development of Jamaican music.

Bunny “Striker” Lee died on October 6, 2020, at the age of 79.

A Legacy Embedded in the Rhythm

Bunny Lee was not simply a producer standing behind a recording console. He was a talent scout, promoter, organizer, rhythm entrepreneur and cultural connector. He brought singers, musicians and engineers together and created conditions in which experimentation could flourish.

His catalog offers a record of reggae’s evolution. Within it, listeners can hear the tenderness of rocksteady, the spiritual and political intensity of roots reggae, the radical studio language of dub and the deejay traditions that helped lead Jamaican music toward dancehall.

The number of recordings connected to Bunny Lee is immense, but his greatest contribution may be the production philosophy that they represent: a rhythm is never finished. It can be revisited, reinterpreted, stripped apart and given another life.

Every modern remix, bass-heavy reconstruction and alternate version carries something of that idea.

Bunny “Striker” Lee helped Jamaica teach the world that the recording studio could be an instrument—and that one powerful rhythm could travel forever.

Selected Bunny “Striker” Lee Productions

The Uniques — “My Conversation”
Max Romeo — “Wet Dream”
Delroy Wilson — “Better Must Come”
Eric Donaldson — “Cherry Oh Baby”
John Holt — “Stick By Me”
Johnny Clarke — “None Shall Escape the Judgement”
Johnny Clarke — “Move Out a Babylon”
King Tubby — Dub from the Roots
King Tubby — The Roots of Dub

Research credit: Researched by The Reggae Institute
Published by: The Reggae Museum
Institutional mission: Preserving, documenting and interpreting reggae and dancehall history for present and future generations.

Historical details were cross-checked against The Guardian’s Bunny Lee archive, Billboard and the Bunny Lee Museum.