Steve Barrow

Steve Barrow (born 29 September 1945) is a British reggae historian, writer and producer.

Biography

Barrow was born in Forest Gate, London in 1945. When he was young his family moved a short distance to the Manor Park area where he attended the East Ham Grammar school until 1962. After leaving school and working in various jobs he returned to full-time education at the East Ham College of Technology (1970-74) where he studied Graphic Design. In October 1975 Barrow and Keith Stone took over the premises of All Change Records in Hanway Street (just off Oxford Street); a shop where Barrow had previously been a manager. Renaming it to Daddy Kool, they removed the soul and jazz records and concentrated on selling only reggae. On 29 September 1976 Barrow's partnership with Stone was dissolved and Stone retained the shop due to his majority stake-holding.

In 1993 Barrow co-founded, along with Mick Hucknall, the Blood and Fire record label which specializes in reissuing older Jamaican music. Barrow's extensive knowledge of reggae was the catalyst for the creation of the Jamaican Reggae Archive Project which is funded and owned by Chris Blackwell with Barrow as de facto curator. Between 1994 and 1995 Barrow (along with Don Letts and Rick Elwood) conducted a series of interviews with Jamaican artists for the Archive that aimed to preserve the history of the music; the interviews and other related material were an important factor in the writing of the book The Rough Guide to Reggae. In 2004 Barrow co-founded the reggae reissue label Hot Pot Music.

Bibliography

• The Rough Guide to Reggae with Peter Dalton, 1997 for the first edition, Rough Guides Limited, ISBN 1-85828-247-0
• The Rough Guide Reggae: 100 Essential Cds, 1999, Rough Guides Limited, ISBN 1-85828-567-4
• King Jammy's, with Beth Lesser, 2002, ECW Press, UK, ISBN 1-55022-525-1

External links

• Steve Barrow Interview at Niceup
• Audio Interview with Steve Barrow at Big Mikey Dread Reggae Radio