Ken Khouri

Born 1917 in Kingston/Jamaica in a Lebanese/Cuban family. Ken Khouri was a furniture salesman before he became a Jamaican music industry pioneer after he bought recording equipment in Miami in the 1940's. Lacking a studio, Khouri traveled through clubs and recorded Calypso music, and then sent the master to the UK to get pressed, since there was no record manufacturing in Jamaica at the time. In 1947 he built up a studio (Records Limited) which would become Federal Records Studio, which was for a long time the only recording facility in Jamaica. In the early 1950s he finally bought a pressing plant in California, being the first man in Jamaica to press records. On his two labels, Times Music and Federal Records (3) , Khouri released Boogie, RnB and Calypso records; also he had Jamaica distribution contract with Mercury Records. Later, when Ska and Rocksteady set in, he recorded the genre's greats like Prince Buster and Hopeton Lewis. He was also the owner of KK Mastering Labs, Inc. which was first located in Jamaica before relocating to Miami, FL. In 1981, Ken Khouri sold his studio and pressing plant to Bob Marley's Tuff Gong record label. Khouri died on 20th September 2003 in Kingston His second-born son Paul Khouri is a producer and mastering engineer based in Florida.