Edward Seaga - Music Industry Career

Music Industry Career

Seaga's research led to an interest in popular Jamaican music. In 1955, he supervised the recording of an album of ethnic Jamaican music. He continued to produce recordings by other artists and in the late 1950s set up West India Records Limited (WIRL), releasing early recordings by artists such as Higgs and Wilson and Byron Lee & the Dragonaires. Beginning in 1961, Seaga lived in West Kingston. He became deeply involved in its music scene and recorded some of its artists.

WIRL became the most successful record company in the West Indies. After being elected in 1962 as a Member of Parliament, representing the Jamaica Labour Party, he sold the company to Byron Lee. It was renamed Dynamic Sounds.

Over sixteen years, Seaga worked on compiling a collection of Jamaican music covering the period from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. This will be released as a four-disc box set in early November 2012, titled Reggae Golden Jubilee Origins of Jamaican Music.