Phil Pratt


Phil Pratt, born George Phillips is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.

Career

Phil Pratt worked at Studio One for Coxsone Dodd as a box-loader during the rocksteady period when Lee Perry was operating there, before moving to the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Pratt returned to Jamaica in 1965, and as a singer, he recorded a song called "Safe Travel" but it was not released at the time. He moved to Ken Lack's label Caltone and recorded a few tunes there. In 1966, Pratt decided to get into production and while at Caltone recorded the young Horace Andy. During the rocksteady period, he recorded singers such as Ken Boothe, John Holt and Pat Kelly, backed by session men such as Lynn Taitt, his productions appearing on the Caltone, Wiggle Spoon and WIRL labels before he launched his own label, Jon Tom.
Throughout the 1970s, Pratt enjoyed successes with Ken Boothe, 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 Pratt produced many DJs including Dennis Alcapone, Dillinger, I-Roy or U Roy and Jah Woosh, but he remains mostly known for the singles he recorded in 1972 with Big Youth, "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. Pratt 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.
In 1985, he produced the Clash of the Andy's album, featuring Horace Andy and Patrick Andy.

Discography