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Reggae Icon Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry Models Gucci For Kaleidoscope Magazine

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Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

There seems to be no stopping I Am A Mad Man singer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, as even at age 84, he has gained the attention of iconic Italian fashion house, Gucci.

The octogenarian was featured on Gucci’s social media platforms on Saturday sporting garbs from the Italian fashion house, which he had donned for a photoshoot for the cover of a recent edition of Kaleidoscope Magazine.

“Lee Perry appears on Kaleidoscope Magazine’s latest cover wearing a Gucci look featuring a printed cotton overshirt and check shorts. Lee Perry is photographed by Lukas Wassmann and styled by Victoria Sekrier,” Gucci noted on the posts.

The image shows the veteran reggae music producer standing on a bench beside a dog somewhere in his adopted homeland Switzerland, showing the peace sign with his two hands.

On Instagram and Facebook, many Reggae fans gave the image the thumbs up, one man even declaring that Gucci was lucky to have Perry wearing its clothes.

“The upsetting Upsetta is wearing Gucci!  That drip!” one fan wrote, while another noted: “Gucci and Supreme rocking same models lately.”

Others were not as kind and stated outright that Gucci’s clothing styles this season were awful-looking.

“Everyone’s gonna say it’s good regardless of what comes out but lets be honest this seasons been meh,” Ashvir Sidu said, while Valentino Vici mocked: “Question to Gucci HR, Do u really enroll ur Creative Designer in ur monthly payroll ?  I just wanna know please.”

Scratch is no stranger to the fashion world.  In May 2019, he was one of the models for Adidas Originals’ DON’T ASSUME, a campaign which featured an eight-piece football-inspired collection consisting of Adidas Originals SPRT tracksuit, home, away and goalkeeper jerseys, matching shorts, as well as a paneled hooded sweatshirt.

The campaign was part of what the sporting giant described as a “collaborative partnership with NTS Radio, a leading global platform for underground music and alternative culture.

In 2010, he also collaborated with Supreme on two t-Shirt designs featuring his written word and his original artwork.

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Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

Described as a complex and contradictory man, Perry, who was born in Kendal, Hanover, is rated one of the most important creative, artistic and musical figures to emerge in the latter half of the 20th century.  He has produced more than 1000 recordings during his career which spans more than half-a-century.

He produced some of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ best early recordings –  including the Soul Rebel and Soul Revolution albums, singles Small Axe and Duppy Conqueror, Jah Live, Punky Reggae Party, and Rastaman Live Up.  In the mid-70s he produced War Ina Babylon by Max Romeo and Police and Thieves by Junior Murvin.

Perry, who received the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican Government in 2012, is said to have conceptualized beat-making strategies which had never been done in a studio before, including running tapes backwards, recording garden implements for beats, burying microphones under trees to get a different sound, and even blowing ganja smoke over the tapes.

Scratch, who still keeps abreast of happenings on the local dancehall circuit, even lauded incarcerated deejay Vybz Kartel as Jamaica’s best deejay ever, in 2017.  At the time he told The Gleaner newspaper that the World Boss would have to “repent and change his ways so God can give him another chance at freedom”.

Alkaline, he also said, was the best in the dancehall at the time, so much so that he had to “bring him to Negril to perform” at his stage show.

Perry has one Grammy win and four nominations under his belt.

Last December he released his Heavy Rain album which appears to be tipped for a Grammy nomination.  The 12-track album debuted at number one on the Billboard Reggae Albums Charts.  It became his first number one album in his 60-year career, and made him, then 83, the oldest artiste to top the table.

He copped his first Grammy win in 2002 with Jamaican E.T and also received Grammy nominations in 2014 for Back on the Controls; in 2010 with Revelation; in 2008 with Repentance, in 2007 with The End Of An American Dream.