Lee Gopthal

Lehman Serikeesna Gopthal (1 March 1938 – 29 August 1997), known as Lee Gopthal, was a Jamaican-British record label owner and promoter, the co-founder of Trojan Records.

Life and career He was born in Constant Spring, Jamaica, into an Indian Jamaican family. His father, Sikarum Gopthal, came to Britain on the Empire Windrush in 1948, and Lee moved to Britain in 1952. In the late 1950s he bought a property in Maida Vale, part of which he leased to record producer Sonny Roberts, Many of the shops, including one in Portobello Road, were rebranded as Muzik City in the early 1970s.

Gopthal also set up Pyramid Records and, in 1967, co-founded Trojan Records with Chris Blackwell. The Trojan Records label licensed a succession of Jamaican recordings supplied by producers such as Duke Reid, Clancy Eccles, Lee Perry, Harry J, and Leslie Kong. Gopthal achieved commercial success releasing chart singles including Desmond Dekker's 1969 hit "Israelites" (on Pyramid), as well as records by Dandy Livingstone, Harry J's Allstars, the Pioneers, and the Upsetters. Chris Blackwell left Trojan in 1972, and Gopthal sold the label in 1974. The Musicland and Muzik City stores closed by 1977.