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Eight weeks have passed since Studio One Records, the music label which gave the name to the street on which it is situated - Studio One Boulevard - has been closed, but the famed studio is expected to reopen on Monday according to Lou Gooden, a member of the Studio One management team.

By Balford Henry

"Mrs Norma Dodd, widow of the late Clement 'Sir Coxone' Dodd went away on business for six weeks but unfortunately her business trip had to be extended hence the delay in reopening the facilities," Gooden told Splash.

Gooden also said that Mrs Dodd was in contact with him by telephone informing him of the extension of her trip and her strong desire to have operations up and running again. "We spoke recently and it should be business as usual at Studio One on Monday," Gooden said.

News of the imminent reopening on Monday is certainly sweet music to the ears for many in the industry as the prolonged closure has been generating concern within local and foreign music circles, as well as among the dozens of recording artistes, musicians and staff of the company who have been idle since the doors were closed in the first week of June.

"It is over eight weeks now, I don't know when it will reopen, nothing is going on: no sale of records, no pressing of records, no recordings, nothing," said Kingsley Goodison who had been involved with the distribution of the products.

Urban music producer Colin "Bulby" York, who had been working with Studio One founder, Clement "Sir Coxsone"
Dodd to add some current flavour to the vintage music for which the studio remained famous up to the time of his passing on May 4, says that he has been doing other projects since the closure as he is still unsure when the studio will reopen.

"Nothing is going on. I had been working on a number of albums and I was supposed to start working on a new one with the Jays," he added.

Retailers, who rely on the consistent sale of Studio One's vintage music, including Techniques Records' Winston Riley, said that there is a lot of concern among retailers about the lack of availability of Studio One products since Dodd's death.

Norma Dodd, assured the public after the death of her husband that plans in the Studio One pipeline would be completed.

"Don't be downhearted," she said then, "things will go on, because that is what Mr Dodd would have wanted me to do and I have to do it."