“Music is my life and I still have to keep the momentum going from the past sixty years. I love to communicate and unite people. Doing nothing is not my goal,” says 86-year-old entrepreneur and co-founder of VP Records Patricia ‘Miss Pat’ Chin, as she and her team prepare for International Record Store Day 2024 on April 20 across the United States, Europe, and parts of Asia.
International Record Store Day originated in the United States in 2007 and is celebrated in countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan.
The day brings together fans, artists, and thousands of record stores globally to celebrate the culture of independently owned record stores and the vinyl record culture that has brought these stores into a new era of relevance.
A highlight of the day is the issuing of special vinyl releases along with other promotional offerings to mark the occasion, which are only available at participating stores.
VP Records’ International Record Store Day
Miss Pat is eagerly anticipating VP Records’ annual Record Store Day celebration, which will take place this Saturday from 12 noon to 6 pm at their flagship store in Jamaica Queens and at their retail store in Miramar Florida. Special guests for the day at the Jamaica Queens event will be VP recording artist Romain Virgo.
According to Miss Pat, “It will be a celebration of Romain’s new album release, The Gentle Man, and also the work that he has done over the years. We want to honor his accomplishments from his Rising Stars days up till now. He will be present to do a meet and greet, take photos with his fans, and sign copies of the album. It promises to be a fun day and will shine a light on the sound system and vinyl culture, showing everyone that our music is alive and well, even with all the stages that we have passed through.”
Retirement not on Miss Pat’s agenda
At an age when many of her peers are enjoying retirement and slowing down, the tireless Miss Pat smilingly asserts that none of that is on her agenda.
“I’m not retired,” she laughs. “I don’t think of myself as retired at all. I still have work to do and I still have my ears to the streets. I’ve been through it all, from mento, ska, to rocksteady, reggae, dancehall, and dub, and I’ve never lost track of the different trends in the music. My plan is to keep going and to keep preserving our musical legacy for as long as I can.”
Miss Pat and her late husband Vincent Chin together founded VP Records in New York in 1979. They had immigrated to the USA from Jamaica having run a small record store, Randy’s Record Mart, and a recording studio, Studio 17, for some 20 years in downtown Kingston. From a tiny retail outlet on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, VP Records has grown to become the largest independent reggae label and distributor of Caribbean music in the world.
She believes that entrepreneurship was in her DNA, as she started her own business during childhood while growing up in Kingston as the eldest of three children born to her Chinese mother and Indian father. While at Alpha Girls School, she asked her father to buy her some rubber bands and marbles, popular novelty items amongst her schoolmates at the time, and, exhibiting her enterprising entrepreneurial spirit, she sold them at lunchtime.
“Looking back,” says Miss Pat today, “Maybe that’s how my business sense began to develop.”
Her perseverance was instrumental to the eventual success of VP Records, which proudly boasts a roster of present and past artists that includes many of the most popular reggae and dancehall stars of all time including Beres Hammond, Shaggy, Beenie Man, Sean Paul, Spice, Lady Saw, Morgan Heritage, and Tanya Stephens. Many of them have become her close friends.
Having survived and thrived amidst early professional challenges, as well as overcoming several personal tragedies including the loss of her husband Vincent, two sons, and a grandson, Miss Pat continues to persevere, determined to make a difference.
In 2006, the government of Jamaica awarded her the prestigious Order of Distinction (OD) in recognition of her contribution to Jamaican music and culture, and 2021 she published her memoir, Miss Pat- My Reggae Music Journey. She is also the first woman to have received the American Association of Independent Music Lifetime Achievement Award.
VP Records is located at 170 -19 Jamaica Avenue, Queens NY, 11432, and at 6022 SW 21st Street in Miramar Florida, 33023. Record Store Day is free and open to the public.
