Circa 1933 – August 9, 1971
Leslie Kong was a Chinese Jamaica reggae producer. He and his brothers (Fats and Cecil) used to run a restaurant, ice-cream parlour and record shop named Beverley’s on Orange Street in Kingston. In 1961, he met Jimmy Cliff singing outside of his shop, this encounter led him to launch his own label “Beverley’s” and to record Cliff’s first song, “Dearest Beverly”, which launched his career.
In 1962 he recorded Bob Marley’s first singles: “One Cup of Coffee”, and “Judge Not”, and Jimmy Cliff’s hit, “Miss Jamaica”. Throughout his career Kong employed the best musicians in town as a session band under the name of “The Beverley’s Allstars”. Other artistes who recorded at Beverley’s include Ken Boothe, Bruce Ruffin, The Gaylads, Delroy Wilson and Peter Tosh.
Leslie Kong died of a heart attack, aged 38, in August 1971, after being allegedly ‘cursed’ by Peter Tosh of The Wailers after a dispute over the release of an album entitled, “The Best of the Wailers”. Kong made a cameo appearance in the film ‘The Harder They Come’, where he is seen overseeing a recording session with Toots & the Maytals. He had a nephew Errol Kong, who recorded several singles and an LP as I Kong aka Ricky Storme.
Hits include:
- “007” (Shanty Town)
- “Israelites”
- “One Cup Of Coffee”
- “Miss Jamaica”