OnePageLink

THE BOOK

"What Berry Gordy was to Motown Records...Patricia Chin is to the reggae industry & VP Records"

DJ Kool Herc, The founder of Hip-Hop

"The story of a pioneering reggae record shop and label owner"

Vinyl Factory

Part-memoir, part-photo album, Miss Pat: My Reggae Music Journey is the personal story of a reggae music maven, as never told before. As a female pioneer, in a male-dominated industry, company matriarch, philanthropist, Grammy Award-winning VP Records co-founder, retailer, merchandiser and recipient of numerous accolades, Miss Pat has left her indelible mark and impacted the lives of many during the course of her six decade-long career.

Presented with many never seen, artist and family photos and original illustrations by the late Michael Thompson and Maria Papaefstathiou (the book's designer), My Reggae Music Journey covers 70 years of music history, from the rise and development of Randy's Record Mart (the famed music shop and recording studio in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, founded by Miss Pat and her late husband Vincent 'Randy' Chin) to the establishment of VP Records in 1979, the family's migration to New York City and the business as it operates today.

Quotes and memories from luminaries including, former Jamaican Prime Minister, Edward Seaga, Chris Blackwell, Lee "Scratch" Perry, the late producer Edward "Bunny" Lee and her children, who work in the business - all testify to the remarkable spirit that is Patricia Chin. A companion audio release through VP Records is scheduled for release in May, 2021. Published by Gingko Press. 212 pages, Hardcover 9" x 12"

Miss Pat continues to lead the world’s largest independent reggae record label and distributor of Caribbean music, VP Records - and is passionate about supporting young people through music & education in Jamaica. If you would like to donate to the V&P Foundation, please visit: vandpfoundation.org

BIO

Patricia Dorothy Chin, born on September 20, 1937, is a Jamaican entrepreneur and co-founder of VP Records, the world’s largest independent reggae label and distributor of Caribbean music. “Miss Pat”, as she is affectionately known, was raised in the heart of Kingston, to a Chinese mother and an Indian father. The eldest of three, she was groomed to become a leader and role model. During her adolescence, while attending the Alpha Girls School, Patricia knew she didn’t want to pursue the commercial trade her father, a haberdasher, was pushing her towards. So she asked him to buy some rubber bands and marbles, popular novelty items amongst her schoolmates at the time, and in her instinctual entrepreneurial fashion, she sold them at lunchtime. “When I check it back,” says Miss Pat reflectively, “maybe that’s how my business sense began to get developed.”

While most of her colleagues describe her as the “business mind and backbone” of the family-owned and operated company, Miss Pat prefers to talk about the mission of VP Records; to bring people together by spreading her beloved culture to the world. Together, Patricia the “P” and Vincent, the “V” in VP Records, were a vital component in the growth and evolution of the reggae genre and culture that has touched every country, every culture and every continent.  “It was not easy to sell our culture in a foreign country,” Miss Pat admits.  “we were constantly launching new artists and at the same time educating and selling to our customers.  But it’s the love and passion and hard work, day after day that made VP Records what it has become."  Over 60 years later, from a small used-record shop in Kingston, Jamaica, to a New York City based, multinational company, VP Records stands as a symbol for reggae music, for the culture and message of its abiding roots and continued legacy. As a Grammy winning label co-founder, retailer, merchandiser, and with accolades too numerous to mention, Patricia Chin has left an indelible mark on the music she loves and impacted the lives of many around the world.

miss PAT - my REGGAE MUSIC JOURNEY

THE BOOK

PHOTOS

VIDEO

MUSIC

BIO

CONTACTS