BMG MAKES STARKEY A TROJAN MAN

Zak Starkey and his partner Sharna “Sshh” Liguz have licensed the Trojan label out of Jamaica to create a new frontline label called Trojan Jamaica that will be working with BMG to release newly produced, Jamaican-made music.

BMG is both co-funding the Trojan Jamaica label and has licensed the name for use from the 50-year-old Trojan Records label for the new venture. The label’s first release is slated for the spring.

Starkey—the drumming son of Ringo Starr who plays with The Who—and Liguz’s musical project SSHH performed the opening ceremony of the Peter Tosh Museum in October 2016, which led to an appearance the following year to the second annual Peter Tosh tribute concert.

Starkey and Liguz then opened a recording studio in Ocho Rios and began working with Toots & The Maytals, Freddie McGregor, U-Roy, Santigold, Shaggy and others.

“We felt so warmly welcomed and at home in the musical community, that we stayed and recorded all the music that has become Trojan Jamaica,” Starkey said. “We’re committed to presenting local artists together with international musicians who, like us, have been inspired by roots culture.”

Locals shocked BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch on his first visit when he encountered spliffs as big as the bratwursts he had enjoyed before leaving home. “This is a wonderful opportunity to reflect the new sounds of reggae’s homeland,” he said. “Who on this island can bake some lebkuchen?”