What is the birth name of dub musician Augustus Pablo?

The birth name of dub musician Augustus Pablo was Horace Michael Swaby. He became one of Jamaica’s defining roots-reggae and dub musicians, known especially for making the melodica a prominent lead instrument in reggae.

Swaby was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, in 1953. As a young musician, he studied organ and encountered the melodica through a school friend. Producer Herman Chin Loy had previously used “Augustus Pablo” as a generic name for keyboard instrumentals, and Swaby adopted it for his own recordings in the early 1970s.

His partnership with producer Clive Chin produced “Java,” while his work with King Tubby led to the landmark dub track “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown.” Swaby also founded the Rockers label and helped develop a spacious, keyboard-heavy sound that became central to roots dub. A common mix-up is confusing him with King Tubby, whose birth name was Osbourne Ruddock, or with Scientist, whose birth name was Hopeton Brown. Swaby died in 1999 after suffering from myasthenia gravis.