November has been an unfortunate month for record producers: Vice President of Def Jam Recordings Shakir Stewart, Dynamic Sounds founder Byron Lee, and ex-Motown CEO and President of Def Soul Classics Jheryl Busby.

Stewart was found in the bathroom of his home in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on November 1. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. He was 34 years old. He graduated from Atlanta’s Morehouse College and got his start as a music executive at Hitco Music Publishing where he signed Beyoncé Knowles. In 2000, he was appointed A&R consultant at LaFace Records signing Ciara to the label. He stayed there until 2004. From 2004, he served as vice president and then senior vice president of A&R for Def Jam. He signed Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy, Miami rapper Rick Ro$$, and New York singer and pianist newcomer Karina Pasian. In June 2008, he was assigned as Executive Vice President of Def Jam where he had replaced Jay-Z, a position left vacant since December 2007. In addition to discovering new talent, Stewart oversaw various projects as Def Jam VP of A&R, including Nas and LL Cool J.

Lee died at home in Jamaica on November 4 of cancer. He was 73. Byron Lee and the Dragonaires…a Jamaican ska, calypso, and soca band he and his friend Carl Brady formed around 1950…played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Jamaican music to the world. The band recorded their debut single, “Dumplin’s,” in 1959 at the West Indies Records Limited (WIRL) studios owned by future Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who would also become the band’s manager. In 1961, the band received a huge break when they were cast as the hotel band in the first James Bond film, Dr. No. The band performed several songs in the film, although the recordings were actually made by guitarist Ernest Ranglin. When Lee bought the Dynamic Sounds studios (previously WIRL) from Seaga, the Dragonaires naturally recorded there, using the superior facilities to record a string of well-produced albums during the late 1960s and early 1970s, often containing cover versions aimed at tourists, and they went on to record a series of “Reggay”-titled albums in the early 1970s. Lee recorded the Rolling Stones, Roberta Flack, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Paul Simon, and David Bowie. The Stones recorded Goat’s Head Soup at Dynamic in 1972. The band continued to tour, recently performing with Kevin Lyttle at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremony.

Busby died at age 59 on November 4, 2008. He was found dead in the hot tub of his home in Malibu, though whether the cause was accidental or natural had not initially been determined, said Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter. As Motown’s chief for seven years from 1988, Busby oversaw stars including Lionel Ritchie, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder. He also helped develop younger talent, including Another Bad Creation, Boyz II Men, and Johnny Gill. In early 1989, he was able to sign Diana Ross back to Motown, having left for RCA Records in 1981. After his time at Motown, Busby was the head of the urban division at DreamWorks Records between 1998 and 2001. He later worked at Def Soul Classics, a division of Def Jam Records. Busby also was a major shareholder in the first black-owned national bank in the US…the Founders National Bank of Los Angeles…along with Magic Johnson and Janet Jackson, BBC News informs.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Jheryl Busby, Byron Lee, Shakir Stewart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.