Meetings with Remarkable Musicians
Review of the Simon and Schuster Audio audiobook (June 7, 2022) narrated by Bill Nighy and released simultaneously with the Gallery Books hardcover/ebook.

You don't really learn that much about Chris Blackwell in this book. It mostly consists of anecdotes about his first hearings or meetings with musicians whom he signed for Island Records which he first started in Jamaica in 1959. The draw is that many of these musicians went on to iconic careers, often leaving Island Records when signed to larger firms. Island itself became too cumbersome to maintain in the 1990s and Blackwell ended up selling it to Polygram. He went on to a career in film production and resort hotels (including the development and expansion of Ian Fleming's Jamaican house Goldeneye).

See photograph at https://repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/blackwell2_1407232c.jpg
Original photograph by Natalie Delon of film director Dickie Jobson, lead actor Edwin ‘Countryman’ Lothan, and producer Chris Blackwell on the Jamaican set of the film ‘Countryman’ (1982). The image was cropped for ‘The Islander’ book cover. Image sourced from Repeating Islands.

What you learn about Blackwell personally is very little. There is amusing trivia that he mostly liked to wear Tshirts, shorts and flipflops and to travel with no luggage. A characteristic anecdote tells about a visitor to a recording studio who ignored him, thinking he was the janitor, heading over to someone who was better dressed. His wives and girlfriends are mostly mentioned only in passing, usually with a throwaway line like 'my wife at the time'.

There are also some great stories about growing up in Jamaica and his family friendships with Errol Flynn, Noel Coward and Ian Fleming, who all lived or vacationed there. Blackwell's mother was a mistress of Ian Fleming and was considered an inspiration for various 'Bond girls.' Blackwell himself worked as a location scout and dogs-body for the first James Bond film Dr. No (1962).

See photograph at https://media.tatler.com/photos/6141de7510040d2e309598f0/master/w_1920%2Cc_limit...
Chris Blackwell, Sean Connery and Ursula Andress on the set of "Dr. No." Image sourced from the Tatler article Wild Jamaica.

If you are fan of any of the music artists, you will likely enjoy this journey through their early years and their early recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s.

I listened to the audiobook edition which was given an excellent narration by actor Bill Nighy. It was available as an Audible Daily Deal on March 18, 2023.

Soundtrack
Work in Progress
Will add Wikipedia and/or YouTube links where available for:
1. The first Island album was by jazz pianist Lance Hayward: 'At the Half-Moon Hotel, Montego Bay' (1959) which you can hear at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Og4AyYzO3c
2. The first big international hit was Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop (1964), which you can hear at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSM9NpsyLd0
3. The discovery of Steve Winwood in the Spencer Davis Group, their hit 'Keep On Running' (1965)
4. Further Steve Winwood & Spencer Davis Group hit 'Gimme Some Lovin' (1966)
5. Traffic's Mr. Fantasy (1967). Listen to the full album here. Songs were written at Sheepcote Farm cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire. Background here.
6. Stephen Stills & Graham Nash cover of Dear Mr. Fantasy (CS&N Boxset 1991). Stephen Stills had wanted Steve Winwood to join CS&N at one point.
7. Original version of Mockingbird (1963) by Inez & Charlie Foxx. After hearing the song in a record store, Blackwell flew from Jamaica to NYC in order to obtain UK distribution rights via Island. The song was later covered by Carly Simon & James Taylor.
8. John Martyn Solid Air (1973) dedicated to Nick Drake. From the same-titled album Solid Air.
9. selection from Fairport Convention / Sandy Denny / Richard & Linda Thompson
10. selection from Nick Drake
11. Cat Stevens & his first Island album 'Tea for the Tillerman'
12. Meeting Bob Marley and the Wailers, 1st Island album "Catch a Fire" (1973)
13. Free "Alright Now"
14. Roxy Music and Brian Eno
15. Grace Jones 'La Vie en Rose'
16. Marianne Faithful 'Broken English'
17. Tom Waits 'SwordfishTrombones'
18. U2 early albums? then with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois "The Unforgettable Fire" "The Joshua Tree".

Trivia and Links
There is an interview with Chris Blackwell on the release of the book at The Guardian here by Jim Farber, June 6, 2022.

Chris Blackwell was recently announced as one of the recipients of Sweden’s 2023 Polar Prize, the music version of the Nobel Prize. The March 28, 2023 announcement video which is a mini-bio of Blackwell’s life can be seen here and the celebration ceremony will be broadcast live on YouTube on May 23, 2023 on the Polar Music Prize channel. ( )

Excellent book on the development of the great Island record label in the UK. Free, Bob Marley, Fairport Convention, U2, Tom Waits, etc., all found a home here. ( )