Michael George Campbell (4 June 1954 – 15 March 2008[1]), better known as Mikey Dread,[2] was a Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster.

Born in Port Antonio,[3] one of five children Campbell showed a natural aptitude for engineering and electronics from an early age.

[4][5][6] Campbell wasn't impressed that the JBC's playlists mainly consisted of bland, foreign pop music at a time when some of the most potent reggae was being recorded in Jamaica.

He convinced his JBC bosses to give him his own radio program called Dread at the Controls, where he played almost exclusively reggae.

Examples of Mikey Dread's distinctive radio chatter can be heard on the US release of the RAS label LP African Anthem Dubwise.

[3][5] Inevitably, JBC's conservative management and Campbell clashed, and he quit in protest in 1978, becoming an engineer at the Treasure Isle studio, where he began an association with producer Carlton Patterson.

[3][7][8] Although initially suspicious of the strangers, Campbell soon became friends with the band, producing their "Bankrobber" single[9] and performing on several songs on their 1980 album Sandinista!.

[4] During the early 1980s he provided vocals for the reggae collective Singers And Players on the album Leaps and Bounds, an album which brought together Prince Far I, Creation Rebel, Headley Bennett, The Congos, Style Scott and The Roots Radics, and was released on Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound record label.

In 1993, Mikey Dread was involved in several projects, including his tour supporting the album Obsession and working in TV with the Caribbean Satellite Network (CSN) where he was Program Director and on Air personality as well as Producer of various shows.

He also produced artists such as Sugar Minott, Junior Murvin, Earl Sixteen, Wally Bucker, Sunshine, Jah Grundy and Rod Taylor.