Reggae music pioneer, Earl Moodie died last Friday (September 17) at the age of 69. Earl Jr., his son, stated that his father had been ill for some time but did not disclose the cause of death.
Moodie was well-known for Moodie's Records, a retail business on White Plains Road in the Bronx that he founded over 40 years ago and was a gold mine for vinyl collectors.
Moodie's impact rose throughout the 1980s, when the Jamaican community in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx expanded significantly. His establishment became a gathering point for Jamaicans in New York City.
Moodie who was born in Papine, St Andrew, and in 1969 he migrated to the United States in 1969, where he began his entertainment career as the lead vocalist of The Stepping Stones, a reggae band that toured the Bronx and Brooklyn club scene.
He was also a salesman at Brad's Records, another Jamaican company on White Plains Road that was a key supplier of reggae in New York in the 1970s.