Throughout the history of reggae music we’ve heard claims from several artists proclaiming to be dj kings. Most were self proclaimed, while others surely came close in securing such title. Nonetheless, the crown would have to be handed down from a real legend that started it all. In 1940, this reggae legend was born Winston Sparkes in Kingston, Jamaica. Due to a facial disfiguration at birth and his stuttering (speech disorder), Stitt was often called the “Ugly One”. His musical career started in 1956 after getting the attention of producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd. Count Machuki who was the original selector for Dodd sound took a liking to Stitt and figured he would be a great attraction during his selections. The fact that Stitt could dance, Machuki saw it as an advantage for Stitt to add toasting (dj) during his performances. This elevated him to be a performer on the sound system for several months with Machuki and Red Hopeton being at the forefront. During the peak of the Ska era, Stitt was crowned “King of all Djs. Soon after Machuki retired, Stitt became so popular that he ended up running the set of Coxsone Sound with U Roy being second in command.

 In late 60’s and the early 70’s, King Stitt recorded extensively for Clancy Eccles over riddims done by The Dynamites. These were released on Clancy Clandisc and New Beat labels in Jamaica and on the Trojans Clandisc subsidiary label in the UK.  Stitt’s first and most prolific record releases came with classic deejay tracks that included “Fire Corner” (1969), “Lee Van Cleef”, “Herbsman Shuffle”, “King of Kings”, “Vigorton 2” and “Dance Beat. Following his success with Eccles, Coxsone Dodd rekindled his recording sessions with Stitt on new materials. After a while, Dodd decided to shut down his Downbeat’s sound system and concentrate on recordings. Stitt quickly began working as a mason in Ocho Rios. He had been performing for over ten years, thus creating some of the first deejay records ever.

Despite his looks, Stitt had international appeal and was admired by skinheads and other groups in England at the time and was considered the “Boss DJ”. As soon as the first deejay style of recordings hit England, several Jamaican producers tried to record other “veteran” deejays such as Dennis Alcapone and U Roy. Upon the success of the first Stitt releases, Clement Dodd, began to release his own King Stitt recordings on the scarce 7-inch Studio One label singles. A full album of Stitt deejaying over late 1950s and early ’60s recordings, such as Owen Grey’s “On the Beach”, was released by Coxsone in the 1990’s entitled Dancehall ’63. A full CD of hard-to-find 7-inch singles called Reggae Fire Beat, including his classic work for Eccles, was released on the Jamaican Gold CD label.

 After years as an assistant to Dodd in Studio One’s premises in Kingston, Stitt started recording again. He can be heard on a 2002 Bruno Blum-produced deejay version of Serge Gainsbourg’s reggae song “Des Laids Des Laids” entitled “The Original Ugly Man”, released on Gainsbourg’s Aux Armes Et Cætera “dub style” remixes in 2003 (featuring The Revolutionaries with Sly & Robbie and Bob Marley’s vocal group I Threes.  His last recording, an original ska tune called “Zoot Suit Hipster”, was recorded in Kingston with Leroy Wallace aka Horsemouth on drums, Bruno Blum on guitar and Flabba Holt on bass. It was also produced by Bruno Blum and released in 2002 on his Jamaican label “Human Race” vinyl single. It is featured on the 2011 Human Race double CD album.

Stitt, who lived in the house next door to Studio One on Brentford Road, was regularly performing in Jamaica as part of ‘revive’ shows. He can be seen selecting & toasting on the Soul Jazz DVD documentary of Studio One called The Studio One Story. Stitt was seen on the 2002 “Legends of Ska” concert series in Toronto, where he selected and dj throughout sets. A documentary of the Legends of Ska concert series was made but not yet released. He was also filmed on one of his last public appearances at the Garance Reggae Festival in France, August 2011, and made his first full international concert in Brazil, later that year. In his last concert Stitt paid tribute to his friend and producer Chester Synmoie, who had died during his tour.

 Shortly after, his health started to fade following a battle with prostate cancer.  Sadly to say, Stitt died at his home in Kingston on January 31, 2012. He is survived by a daughter. One of his biggest fans was Big Youth who also mentioned that Stitt was the first Dj King.