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Roy Anthony Cousins (born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer, producer, and record label owner, known for being lead singer and co creator of The Royals, his productions of artists such as Charlie Chaplin, Prince Far I, Scientist, Winston Francis, Earl Sixteen, Devon Russell, Junior Reid, Don Carlos, Pablove Black, Ken Parker, Knowledge, The Gaylads, The Meditations, Prince Hammer and Cornell Campbell, and his record labels, Uhuru, Tamoki, Wambesi, Dove & Tamoki-Wambesi/Tamoki Wambesi Dove.
In June 1977, Cousins left his Post Office job to concentrate full-time on music, resulting in 1978's Pick Up The Pieces album, a collection of tracks from Royals 1970s singles, which is now considered one of the great reggae albums. Its success led to a contract with Ballistic Records, licensed to United Artists, with two further Royals albums following. Cousins-produced dub music albums also appeared ( Freedom Fighters Dub and Liberated Dub).
In 1979, almost led to Cousins losing his sight. After recovering, Cousins began to concentrate on production, introducing the dancehall deejay Charlie Chaplin, as well as releasing a series of LPs and roots reggae vocal and dub , producing artists such as Cornell Campbell's 45, Jah Give us Love in the Morning, Earl Sixteen, Naggo "Dolphin" Morris (also of The Heptones), and The Meditations with tracks such as "Stranger in Love" and "Unity". These releases were mostly backed by The Roots Radics and engineered by Scientist, with The Royals' "If You Want Good" and the Dove label Junior Reid 45 release "Oh Happy Day", in demand on Jah Shaka and Lloyd Coxsone sound systems in the UK.
Cousins produced Prince Far I's final album in 1983, Umkhonto We Sizwe, the being fatally shot before it was finished. This prompted Cousins to emigrate to Liverpool, England, where he set up a record shop, Cousins Cove, and continues to release records on his Tamoki-Wambesi and Dove labels, both from his back-catalogue, and new recordings of visiting Jamaican artists. Another Cousins-produced track from this era is "Skanky Producer" which featured Charlie Chaplin and Black Uhuru singers Don Carlos and Junior Reid.
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