By deeply connecting with the people and idyllic landscape of his island, Perry channelled a stream of ideas into mindblowing musicNews: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, visionary master of reggae, dies aged 85Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry: obituary “Until reggae it was all Kingston … Kingston, Kingston, Kingston! Ska? … Rocksteady? … they were Kingston things with the same Kingston men doing the same Kingston things.”
![Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry: a limitless genius who took Jamaica into the future](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/08e527f43264e02f7718bd867ab22cf452522f6b/0_346_5184_3110/master/5184.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctb3BpbmlvbnMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=798f17e7de76ac4059023384e09ac573)
Lee “Scratch” Perry – who has died aged 85 – was talking me through perhaps the most significant gear change in the earlier years of Jamaican
music – and was understandably animated, even by his own hyperactive standards.