Coxsone Dodd
Smith initially trained as a welder and worked for the Jamaica Public Services. Inspired by the big sound systems that he had visited in his youth such as those run by Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd and Prince Buster, and particularly King Tubby's Home Town Hi-Fi, which featured the DJ U-Roy, and the Kentone sound system featuring DJ Pampado, Smith teamed up with two friends, Lizzy and Samuel the First, to set up his own "El Paso" sound system in 1969.