Page 3 - BOX SET BOOKLET _ Down In Jamaica _ 40 Years Of Vp Records

VP Records launched in the late 1970s in New York as a retail record store and
a new label imprint of Randy’s Records founders Vincent and Patricia Chin,
marking the beginning of a new chapter in a story that began in Jamaica in 1958.

The Chins and their extended family spent the previous 20 years building what
started as an ice cream parlor into a secondhand record business and then into
Jamaica’s leading music retail and distribution hub. Their Randy’s Record Mart
at 17 North Parade in Kingston, Jamaica had become the central ‘one stop’ for
the thriving Jamaican music industry by the late 1960s, also home to one of the
country’s most active recording studios, producing the cutting-edge sounds of
ska, rock steady, reggae, and dub.

Having conquered Jamaica, the Chins set their eyes on the American market, the
world’s largest for recorded music and the essential platform for international
recognition. That route to success was elusive, one that very few Jamaicans had
managed to pass in the first 20 years of the industry. Regardless, it was one
that VP would eventually master, seeing its artists receive 19 Grammy Award
nominations en route to building one of the world’s largest reggae catalogs.

To establish a foothold in the New York area and build on the success of Vincent’s
brother Victor, who ran the successful Chin-Randy’s shop on St. John’s in
Brooklyn, the Chins used Vincent’s sister Molly (Chin) Feliciano’s Musicland shop Down In Jamaica: 40 Years Of VP Records
at 328 Utica Avenue for a handful of releases. Since there was already a Randy’s
Records in America, VP Records was the logical new name for the business as it
got on its feet.

Above, Vincent and Partricia Chin, Kingston, Jamaica, early 1960s. Upper
right, Vincent Jr. (Randy), Vincent Sr., Angela, and Chris at Randy’s Record
Mart, circa 1968. At right, Randy’s Record Mart at 17 North Parade.

Top, one of the only VP releases from Brooklyn that used the
Randy’s label. Above, Raymar Sales ad in Billboard, July 1955,
from the address that would become VP Records. At left, VP
Records at 170-21 Jamaica Avenue, mid-1980s.

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