Mikey Dread

In October 2007, it was announced that Campbell was being treated for a brain tumour. He died on 15 March 2008, surrounded by his family, at the home of his sister in Stamford, Connecticut. He left seven children, three daughters and four sons, the youngest of whom was 4 months old when he died and who he had with his wife Monica.

Dread, together with The Blizzard of 78, featured on The Sandinista! Project, a tribute to the 1980 Clash album Sandinista!, with the song "Silicone on Sapphire". The tribute album, recorded in 2004, was released on 15 May 2007 by the 00:02:59 Records (a label named after a lyric from the Sandinista! song "Hitsville UK").

Released: 2007 Recorded: 2007 Label: Dread at the Controls Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Notes: The 2006 reissue has "Front Room Dub" on track number 6 and "Two Track Dub" on track number 7.

Released: 4 January 2006 Label: Dread at the Controls (DATC CD 2015) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 4 January 2006 Recorde: 1979 Label: Dread at the Controls Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Note: Dread at the Controls (1979) and Evolutionary Rockers (1979) on one CD. Track listing

He performed live with The Clash, UB40, Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Macka B, and many other bands and artists. He also produced artists such as Sugar Minott, Junior Murvin, Earl Sixteen, Wally Bucker, Sunshine, Jah Grundy and Rod Taylor. He also worked closely with producer Trevor Elliot to launch musical career of singer Edi Fitzroy. Mikey Dread was the featured artist on "Lips Like Sugar" with Seal for the soundtrack of the 2004 film, 50 First Dates.

He performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2002 and at Glastonbury Festival in 2004, and toured the UK in 2006.

Released: 2002 Recorded: 2002 Label: Dread at the Controls (3000) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 2000 Recorded: 2000 Label: Dread at the Controls Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1998 Recorded: 1978–1992 Label: Dread at the Controls, Music Club Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Mikey furthered his knowledge of TV/Video Production at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, where he graduated in 1996 with Honors and at Lynn University in Boca Raton / Florida where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Communications, with Magna Cum Laude honours.

Released: 1995 Recorded: 1995 Label: ROIR (8208) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

In 1994 he presented The Culture Award of Honor in the Martin's International Reggae Music Awards in Chicago. In 1995, he worked as a Radio DJ for WAVS 1170 AM and WAXY-AM 790 in Miami, Florida. In 1996 he participated in the Essential Music Festival as a performer in Brighton, UK.

In 1993, Mikey Dread was involved in several projects, including his tour supporting the album Obsession and working in TV with the Caribbean Satellite Network (CSN) where he was Program Director and on Air personality as well as Producer of various shows.

In 1992, he collaborated with former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin on a duet entitled "Can't Hear 'Em". He was nominated for a NAIRD award, an award from the Billboard Magazine, for his work on his 1990 compilation album Mikey Dread's Best Sellers.

Released: 1992 Recorded: 1992 Label: Rykodisc (20243) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

In 1991, Dread recorded Profile and African Anthem Revisited. He also toured in Europe and the US with Freddie McGregor, Lloyd Parks, We The People Band, and the Roots Radics Band.

Released: 1991 Recorded: 1991 Label: RAS (RAS CD 3081) Format: CD, Cassette Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1991 Recorded: 1991 Label: RAS (RAS CD 3082) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 20 May 1991 Recorded: 1979–1989 Label: Rykodisc (RCD 20178 and RACS 0178-2) Format: CD and cassette Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing All tracks written by Mikey Dread

Released: 1989 Recorded: 1989 Label: RAS Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1989 Recorded: 1979–1989 Label: RAS Records (RASCD-3035) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Note: African Anthem (1979) and Happy Family (1989) on one CD.

Released: 1989 Recorded: 1982–1989 Label: Heartbeat Records (HB 11568) Format: CD Producer: Mikey Dread Note: S.W.A.L.K. (1982) is combined with a compilation of Dread productions on Heartbeat Records.

Released: 1982 Recorded: 1982 Label: Dread at the Controls (DATC LP 005) Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1982 Recorded: 1982 Label: Dread at the Controls (DATC LP 009) Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1982 Recorded: 1982 Label: Dread at the Controls Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1982 Recorded: 1982 Label: Heartbeat Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing (CD)

Released: 1982 Recorded: 1982 Label: Heartbeat (HB009 [US] / HB09 [UK, alternate cover]) Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1981 Recorded: 1980–1981 Label: Big Cat Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Campbell's music attracted the attention of British punk rockers The Clash, who invited him over to England to tour with them in 1980, going on to produce some of their music. Although initially suspicious of the strangers, Campbell soon became the best of friends with the band, producing their famous "Bankrobber" single and performing on several songs on their 1980 album Sandinista!. Campbell also toured with The Clash across Britain, Europe, and the US, gaining many new fans along the way. He studied at the National Broadcasting School in London in 1980 and in 1984 studied advanced recording technology at the North London Polytechnic.

During the early 1980s he provided vocals with the reggae collective Singers And Players on Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound record label. Dread produced ten dub tracks for UB40 and toured Europe and Scandinavia as their support artist.

Released: 1980 Recorded: 1980 Label: Dread at the Controls (TNT1) Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1979 Recorded: 1978 Label: Dread at the Controls (DATC LP 002) Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Released: 1979 Recorded: 1979 Labels: Trojan (TRLS 178), Dread at the Controls Format: LP Producer: Mikey Dread Track listing

Notes: Dread at the Controls has been released by DATC as Evolutionary Rockers in 1979, 1989, and 2007 with different cover arts and track lisitings.

He also began working as a recording artist, Lee "Scratch" Perry producing his signature tune "Dread at the Controls", also recording for Sonia Pottinger and Joe Gibbs, and performing with the Socialist Roots sound system. Inevitably, JBC's conservative management and Campbell clashed, and he quit in protest in 1978, becoming an engineer at the Treasure Isle studio, where he began an association with producer Carlton Patterson. They co-produced Dread's own work (e.g. "Barber Saloon") and that of others.

He studied electrical engineering at the College of Arts, Science and Technology, and in 1976, started out as an engineer with the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC). Campbell wasn't impressed that the JBC's playlists mainly consisted of bland, foreign pop music at a time when some of the most potent reggae was being recorded in Jamaica. He convinced his JBC bosses to give him his own radio program called Dread at the Controls, where he played almost exclusively reggae. Before long, Campbell (now using the DJ name Mikey Dread) had the most popular program on the JBC. Well known for its fun and adventurous sonic style, Dread at the Controls became a hit all over Jamaica. Examples of Mikey Dread's distinctive radio chatter can be heard on the US release of the RAS label LP African Anthem Dubwise.

By the late 1970s he had started his own DATC label, working with artists such as Edi Fitzroy, Sugar Minott, and Earl Sixteen, as well as producing his own work. The label released Dread's albums Evolutionary Rockers (released in the UK as Dread at the Controls), and World War III.

Michael George Campbell (4 June 1954 – 15 March 2008), better known as Mikey Dread, was a Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster. He was one of the most influential performers and innovators in reggae music.