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During the late seventies and through into the early eighties the Stereophonic sound system played an important role in the development of dancehall. The sound had started out circa 1976 as “Sir John’s The President”, named after its owner, Big John (b. Leon John). It was originally based in the eastern part of Kingston city, on Windward Road. In July/August 1979 they moved a short distance to their new headquarters called Bionic Lawn, also located on Windward Road, Kingston 2, this time at number 30.

Their main deejay in these formative years was Welton Irie (b.Welton Dobson) and by 1977 the Stereophonic crew consisted of Welton, Colonel Flux as selector and sometime deejay/singer, and box boys Papa Dennie (b. Dennie Edwards) and Donovan. The last two would eventually perform as deejays on the set in years to come. It was at this time Madoo aka Maddo (b. Osbert Madoo) was introduced to Welton Irie at the Bionic Lawn by his late spar Scarley, and he immediately impressed the deejay with his singing, so much so that Madoo joined the set the very next weekend.


With Welton and Madoo at the controls the sounds popularity continued to grow and another piece of the jigsaw fell into place with the emergence of deejay General Echo aka Ranking Slackness (b. Earl Anthony Robinson). He had first tried his luck with his own set, which he called Echotone, before making his way onto the Ray Symbolic Hi Fi. He developed his own unique style, which incorporated storytelling, impersonations, jokes mixed with a penchant for slack lyrics.
Echo’s skills on the microphone combined with the vocals of Madoo, the Bionic Singer proved to be a big hit with the dancehall massive.
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Virgo International Hi Fi was a sound which started out around 1977 and was owned by Ronald Ballantine, better known as Ronnie Virgo. At the beginning he recruited deejays, I Roy and Ray I to hold the microphones. I Roy (b Roy Reid) was already highly regarded as a classic pioneering deejay, having worked for many early sounds like Son's Junior, Supreme Ruler of Sound, V. Rocket and King Tubby's Home Town Hi Fi amongst others. Ray I (b. Raymond Bygrave) was perhaps less well known, but he stepped up from Tantone Hi Fi to help boost up the Virgo sound. The Virgo HQ was to be found at 5 Lincoln Road, Crossroads in the Kingston 5 district.By 1980 Lone Ranger (b Anthony Waldron) had joined the ranks, and with his past experience on East Kingston's Soul Express set and later on the Soul To Soul sound system, coupled with his massive popularity on record, with hits like "Barnabas Collins" and his big seller "Love Bump", everything clicked together. Any session which featured Ranger guaranteed excitement, featuring a mixture of cultural and slack lyrics combined with rapid delivery and humour.

Lone Ranger's involvement with Virgo earned the sound the El Suzie award for "Sound System of the Year" in 1980, with Ranger picking up the "Deejay of the Year" award the following year. Popular singers to feature on the set included Greenwich Town singer Sammy Dread (b Stewart Farquharson) and Lone Ranger's spar Carlton Livingston, who had also started out at Soul Express. Other deejays often to be found working on the sound included experienced and well travelled 70s mikemen such as U. Brown (b Huford Brown), Ranking Trevor (b Trevor Grant) and Nicodemus (b Cecil Wellington).