Sad and wholly deserved memorial to slain Jamaican pioneer producer - Winston Riley ...
RECORD producer and songwriter Winston Riley is dead. Riley died in
hospital yesterday (19 January 2012) from the effects of a gunshot wound he received last
year. He was in a coma since he was attacked and shot in the back of the
head in November last year.
Winston, who was the father of Fame FM disc jockey Kurt Riley, had been
plagued by a series of violent attacks. He was shot in August last year
and later stabbed five times in September.
 Riley...died in hospital yesterday 1/1 
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Kurt Riley told the Observer this morning that his father's grieving relatives could not figure out a motive behind the attempts on his father's life.
"Unfortunately Daddy didn't wake up so we could talk to him to find out
if there was something he was not telling us. He was a straightforward
man, who was allergic to hypocrisy," he said.
His entered the music industry at 16 years in 1962, when he formed The Techniques harmony group, which recorded their first tracks for Byron Lee, and then later recorded for Duke Reid. In 1968, he left the group and formed his own Techniques record label, moving into production, producing artistes, Boris Gardiner, The Escorts, Alton and Hortense Ellis, and Johnny Osbourne. His song "Double Barrel" was performed by Dave and Ansell Collins under Riley's production and was one of the first international reggae hits to reach #1 on the Dutch and UK Singles Chart.
His "Stalag" riddim is the most sampled Reggae song of all time. The rhythm was first released in 1973, as the instrumental Ansell Collins track, "Stalag 17", named after the World War II film of the same name. It reappeared later as "Stalag 18", "Stalag 19", "Stalag 20" and "Ring the Alarm Quick".
Riley produced General Echo's hugely influential The Slackest album in 1979, and he went on to launch the careers of Sister Nancy, Buju Banton, Cutty Ranks, Lone Ranger, and Frankie Paul.
The band Widespread Panic recorded Echo's song "Arlene", and have performed many versions of it at their concerts.
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