Pioneering Jamaican music promoter, producer and record label owner, Bruce White has passed away.

Bruce, whose involvement in the British music industry commenced in the mid-sixties when he formed Commercial Entertainments artist management company with partner, Tony Cousins went on to become one of the most important players on the UK Reggae scene.

The first signing for the new enterprise was Jamaican-born singer, Delroy Williams, who fronted a number of Soul and Reggae outfits before becoming a key figure in Trojan Records' A&R department. Later Caribbean acts on the company's roster included such luminaries as Desmond Dekker & the Aces, the Maytals, Lee Perry & the Upsetters, Millie Small, Bob & Marcia, the Pioneers, Nicky Thomas, Byron Lee, Pat Kelly, the Melodians, Max Romeo, the Rudies, the Clarendonians, the Pyramids and the Ethiopians. And while Commercial Entertainments also went on to look after the interests of a number of leading Pop and Soul acts, it was their dominance in the field of Reggae that set them apart from other agencies and helped establish the company as the second largest artist management company in Europe.

In 1970, Bruce and Tony began to turn their hand to recording music, licensing their work (as Bruce Anthony) to Trojan Records, the then dominant force in British Reggae, with a number of UK-based acts including the Pyramids among those to work with the fledgling producers. The following year, the pair's orchestral embellishment of the Herman Chin-Loy produced recording, 'Rain', performed by former Techniques' vocalist, Bruce Ruffin, became a national hit, spurring the pair to launch their own record company, Creole.

With strong links to so many leading Jamaican performers it was not before long that the new company had a number of well known Reggae acts on their books, with Ruffin joined by the likes of Desmond Dekker, the Aces, Dave Barker and Winston Francis.

Over the ensuing years, Creole Records steadily grew, with best-sellers that included Ruffin's 'Mad About', 'Ire Feelings' by Rupie Edwards, Desmond Dekker's 'Sing A Little Song' and a series of popular risqué discs from Judge Dread, all of which helped it overtake Trojan as the country's most successfully commercial Jamaican music enterprise by the mid-seventies. Meanwhile, successful 45s by soul and mainstream acts such as Ruby Winters, the Chequers and Boney M helped bolster the company's coffers further.

Later in the decade, Creole's agreement with Dynamic Sounds resulted in a number of European hits by Jamaican balladeer, Barry Biggs, while the eighties saw the company issue major hits by Sophia George and Boris Gardiner, whose 'I Want To Wake Up With You' presented them with their first UK Number One.

Creole continued to sign new recordings up until the close of the nineties, when Bruce decided to follow Trojan's lead by concentrating on its back catalogue. By this time, the loss of his business partner, Tony Cousins, shot while on a trip to Jamaica, along with changes in musical trends had dulled his enthusiasm for the business and in 2003 he decided to sell the company's recorded works to Sanctuary Records Group.

Bruce continued to maintain an interest in the music business via Creole Publishing, although his involvement was reduced to a part-time basis, as he enjoyed spending his much of his semi-retirement in either Spain or the UK. Earlier this year, however, he was diagnosed with cancer and despite bravely fighting the disease, sadly passed away yesterday.

Bruce was truly one of the pioneers of the British Reggae scene as well as being one of the most enigmatic and generous men in the business. He will be very sadly missed by family and those who had the great pleasure of knowing him.