JOHNNY "DIZZY" MOORE
Genres: Dub, Ska, Reggae • Jamaica

John Arlington "Dizzy" Moore, trumpeter, born October 5 1938; died August 16 2008 Johnny "Dizzy" Moore, who has died aged 69 after a long battle with colon cancer, was one of Jamaica's most renowned trumpeters. As a founding member of the Skatalites, Jamaica's premier session band of the early 1960s, he helped create the ska form and backed scores of significant singers, including the young Bob Marley. Moore was born in Kingston, where he was raised in a strict Seventh Day Adventist household. An early fascination with music led him to fashion rudimentary wind instruments out of papaya stalks and pumpkin vines. After discovering that a drumming neighbour learned his musical craft at the Alpha boys' school, a Catholic charitable institution for "wayward boys" that was a breeding ground for some of Jamaica's most talented musicians, Moore set his mind on attending Alpha, despite the social stigma surrounding its students. Most Alpha read more...