Phil Pratt

Phil Pratt, born George Philips (born c. 1950 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.

Phil Pratt worked at Studio One for Coxsone Dodd during the rocksteady period when Lee Perry was operating there. As a singer, he recorded a song called "Safe Travel" but it was never issued. He moved to Ken Lack's label Caltone and recorded a few tunes there. In 1966, he decided to get into production and launched his own label inside of Caltone by recording the young Horace Andy. His label was called Sun Shot. During the rocksteady period, he recorded singers like Ken Boothe, John Holt and Pat Kelly, backed by session men such as Lynn Taitt.

Throughout the 1970s, he enjoyed successes with Ken Boothe ("Artibella", "I'm Not For Sale"), Al Campbell, Delroy Wilson, Bobby Kalphat, and Keith Poppin, and had a major hit with "My Heart Is Gone" by John Holt, Dennis Brown's "Let Love In" and "Black Magic Woman", and Pat Kelly's "How Long", "Soulful Love" and "They Talk About Love". More particularly, from 1971 to 1975 he produced many DJs including Dennis Alcapone ("This Is Butter"), Dillinger ("Platt Skank"), I-Roy ("My Food Is Ration") or U Roy ("Real Cool") and Jah Woosh ("Psalm 21" and "Zion Sound"), but he remains mostly known for the singles he recorded in 1972 with Big Youth (among his earliest songs), "Tell It Black" and "Phil Pratt Thing".

Pratt mainly recorded in the Channel One Studios working with the musicians who would later be called The Revolutionaries but also teamed with Lee Perry again, at Black Ark Studios producing among others Linval Thompson's first single. He set up his own label Terminal in London in order to release his productions worldwide. He moved to London by the beginning of the 1980s and opened a restaurant there.

Partial discography

* Phil Pratt - "Star Wars Dub" - 1978 - Burning Sounds
* Various Artists - "The Magnificent Seven" - 1978 - Burning Music
* Various Artists - "Hits of the Past" - Sun Shot (1994)
* Various Artists - "Raw Roots volume 1" - 1970-1975 - Jet Set Records (1998)
* Various Artists - "Raw Roots volume 2" - 1971-1978 - Jet Set Record
* Various Artists - "The Best Of Sunshot" - 1971-1975 - Jet Set Records
* Various Artists - "Phil Pratt Thing" - Pressure Sounds (1999)
* Various Artists - "Safe Travel" - 1966-1968 - Pressure Sounds (2005)

External links

* [http://www.firecorner.com/magazine/philpratt/frame_index.html Phil Pratt Thing]