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Outlook: Miss Pat: The Chinese-Jamaican matriarch of reggae

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Black and white image of a young Miss Pat at the counter at Randy's

28/10/2021 GMT

Miss Pat: The Chinese-Jamaican matriarch of reggae

BBC World Service - Outlook, Miss Pat: The Chinese-Jamaican matriarch of reggae

Patricia Chin created a musical empire that started in a Kingston grocery store

Patricia Chin aka Miss Pat and her husband started off selling used records from a grocery store. They would go on to build one of the biggest reggae music labels in the world.

In the late 1950s, Patricia Chin – aka Miss Pat – abandoned a career in nursing and, with her husband Vincent, started selling old jukebox records out of a grocery store. Their business moved to downtown Kingston and would grow into Randy’s Record Mart, Jamaica’s most famous record store. Upstairs, Vincent set up Studio 17 and worked with some of reggae’s biggest stars – Bob Marley and the Wailers, Lee ’Scratch’ Perry, Alton Ellis and John Holt. But political instability in the 1970s would force them to flee their beloved home. Miss Pat, with just a few dollars, had to rebuild her life and her business. Now, her family runs VP Records, one of the world’s largest reggae and dancehall labels. Her book is called Miss Pat: My Reggae Journey.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Maryam Maruf

Picture: Miss Pat behind the counter in Randy’s Record Mart
Credit: VP Records

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