From Bob Marley to Peter Tosh: the reggae empire built by a Chinese-Jamaican family

VP Records’ Patricia Chin, born and bred in Jamaica, celebrates the 40th anniversary of her famous reggae record store opening in New York

Marley and Tosh used to record in the Chins’ studio in Jamaica when they were teens

Reading Time:5 minutes

VP Records’ Patricia Chin and Vincent “Randy” Chin (right) in Randy’s Records in Jamaica (1958).

Published: 1:00am, 12 Aug 2019Updated: 9:18pm, 12 Aug 2019

Almost five years ago on a local television show in New York, the host was taken aback at the appearance of Jamaican reggae artist Gyptian being introduced by a diminutive, elderly Asian woman.

“He was not expecting to see a Chinese woman talking about reggae,” Patricia Chin, now 82, recalls with a laugh, during a telephone interview from New York.

But the half-Chinese, half-Indian Chin, who was born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica, knows just about everything there is to know about reggae. She and her late husband, Vincent “Randy” Chin, helped build the nascent reggae music scene in the late 1950s from their home in Kingston, Jamaica, along with the likes of the legendary Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

In 1975, the Chins emigrated to the United States and opened VP Records, in Brooklyn, New York. They later relocated the store, ironically, to the neighbourhood of Jamaica, in Queens, and are this year celebrating its 40th anniversary with a year-long series of events, including a free concert in Central Park on September 10 and the release of a special box set and special-edition vinyl records.

Reggae singers Devonte (left) and Tanto Metro with VP founder Chin (centre), VP CEO Randy Chin (second from right) and the Consul General of Jamaica Basil Bryan. Photo: AFP

The Chins’ foray into the reggae music genre began six decades ago after the couple met in 1957, the same year Patricia became pregnant and the couple married. She was a student nurse at the time, and admits they didn’t know much about reggae music.

Vincent was travelling around the Caribbean island updating vinyl records in hotel jukeboxes, which were the main form of musical entertainment, and Patricia Chin quit nursing school to accompany him. They then hit upon an entrepreneurial idea.