Jumbo Vanrenen

South African music producer, A&R, label manager, promoter and music entrepreneur He was born June 6, 1949 on a farm near Stellenbosch, South Africa and died in Cape Town on Nov, 18, 2018. Shortly after arriving in London in 1971, Jumbo got a job at a Virgin Records store, and before long he was importing select foreign records to sell at all the company’s stores. Within a few years he was on the staff of Virgin’s own record label, In 1978, when Virgin began Front Line (2), an imprint devoted to reggae, and put Jumbo in charge of Artists and Repertoire. In 1983 Vanrenen left Virgin and launched his own record company, Earthworks. When Blackwell left Island to form a new company, Palm Pictures, Vanrenen agreed to go with him. Jumbo returned to South Africa in 2003.