1960
BOOGIE ROCK * LAUREL AITKEN * BLUE BEAT 1 * UK
Emile Shalett the owner of the Melodisc label, a label that he set up to release world (Commonwealth) music, had already issued some music of West Indian origin (some say bootlegged) by the time he established the Blue Beat label; to handle music specifically from Jamaica. Ironically his first release on the label was from Laurel Aiken, a Cuban resident in England! But this is pure pedantics, Laurel Aitken was as important to the birth of Jamaican Reggae as any of the Jamaican born vocalists of the day. The above is the first label design issued towards the end of 1960, it was also issued in yellow, before finally becoming the familiar blue with silver lettering, and with the larger Blue Beat logo. The label ended in 1967 after 395 issues and was deleted the same year.
See also Boogie In My Bones and More Whisky