This is sad to hear: According to a message that he personally left on his Facebook page, Jamaican-born producer/dubmeister Lee “Scratch” Perry has (hopefully accidentally) burned his “secret laboratory” in Switzerland to the ground. He lost everything, including (according to another message he posted) master tapes. With an upcoming tour planned, Perry reached out to his fans for help with stagewear:
HALLO MY FANS
SOMETHNG VERY VERY SAD HAPPEND
I FORGOTT TO OUT A CANDLE AND MY WHOLE SECRET LABORATORY BURNED OUT.
MY WHOLE LIFE COLECTIONS,ARTS,MY MAGIC HATS, MY MAGIC BOOTS, ALL MY CRAZY SHOW OUTFITS AND COSTUMES:KING,POPE,GENERAL,MAGICIAN….. ALL MY ELECTRONICS AND STUDIO EQUIPMENT AND MY MAGIC MIC, BOOKS, MUSIK, CDS…
EVERYTHING GONE!!!!I AM SO SAD AND MY WIFE IS SO MAD
[Not without justification, obviously!]
He continued:
TO MY ANGELS THAT ALWAYS GIVE ME PERFECT THINGS
IF YOU HAVE MADE SOMETHING FOR ME TO BRING IT TO THE SHOW WHEN IM IN YOUR AREA, IT WOULD BE SUPER IF YOU SEND THAT TO ME IN ADVANCE BY POST SO I CAN HAVE IT BEFORE I START WITH SHOWS IN MARCH, BECAUSE NOW IM GOING TO JAMAIKA AND WILL NOT HAVE THE TIME TO LOOK OR MAKE SPECIAL OUTFITS.
SEND ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE AND I WILL SEND YOU THE ADRESS.
ALSO WRITE ME WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED
THEN I WILL PUT YOU + ? ON THE GUESTLIST WHEN I COME TO YOUR AREA AND WITH BACKSTAGE ACSESS SO I CAN THANK YOU PERSONALY
GOD BLESS
LOVE £$P
The 79-year-old Jamaican alchemist who can apparently turn shit into gold—at least he knows how to make lemonade when life deals him all lemons—is reaching out to his fans and they are responding with offers of clothes, stage costumes and “Super Ape” headdresses.
A street mural artist in Brazil named Feoflp has already painted this tribute to Perry:
This isn’t the first time a fire has laid waste to one of Perry’s workspaces. In 1979, after months of erratic behavior that saw him cover nearly every surface inside his Black Ark studio in Kingston, Jamaica with a black magic marker, Perry claims that he burned the legendary backyard recording studio to the ground himself to exorcise it of evil spirits. Friends and family have later said that he was just being dramatic and that the fire had actually been caused by faulty electrical wiring in 1983.
Below, vintage 1970s footage of the Black Ark: