Augustus Pablo

Augustus Pablo, the Jamaican reggae and dub producer and performer, was born with the altogether more mundane name of Horace Swaby and took his stage name from a recording pseudonym used by reggae artists Lloyd Chalmers and Glen Adams. Pablo will forever be associated with the melodica, a type of harmonica equipped with keys manufactured by Hohner. The melodica was used as a music teaching aid in Jaimacan schools and after being given one by a friend he learned to play it and often incorporated it into his recordings.

After releasing some moderately successful reggae tracks he briefly joined Mikey Chung's band Now Generation before joining forces with Clive Chin and recording the 1972 album 'Java'. The album was an international success and helped launch Pablo's career; he released his first solo album 'This Is... Augustus Pablo' in 1974 featuring an all-star cast of reggae session musicians including Ansell Collins, Lloyd Parks and Aston Barrett.

After enjoying a successful decade as a solo artist Pablo's career as a performer slowed down and he began to concentrate on working as a producer creating hits for artists such as Junior Delgado, Asher and Tremble and Ricky Grant. After suffering from ill health throughout the 1990s he eventually died as a result of a collapsed lung in 1999 aged 46. His 1976 album 'King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown' is considered to be one of the finest dub albums of the era.