Duke Reid was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and label owner. He ran one of the most popular sound systems of the 1950s and founded Trojan Records, which released many extremely popular calypso music, jump blues and American R&B singles in the late 1950s. In the 1960s, Reid founded a series of other labels that signed many of the most important ska and reggae artists. He was still extremely active in the 1970s, working with legendary dub artist U-Roy. He died in 1974 after having suffered from a severe illness for the last year.