Miss Pat of VP Records in Queens, NY Autobiography will be released this summer

Pat Chin (centre), co-founder of VP Records, addressing
the audience at Blackhead Chineyman: The Chinese Contribution
 to Jamaican Music held at the Institute of Jamaica last Sunday.
Looking on (from left) are: co-moderator Wayne Chen; VP Record's
 Chris Chin; VP's Clive Chin, and comoderator
 Clyde McKenzie. (Photos: Observer File)

BY HOWARD CAMPBELL
Observer senior writer

Monday, March 02, 2020

An autobiography by VP Records co-founder Pat Chin is scheduled for release this summer, according to the 82-year-old matriarch of the Queen's, New York company.

Chin, popularly known as “Miss Pat”, told the Jamaica Observer that she began writing the book one year ago.

“I was just writing a family story but it went into a different leg. It's been a journey and I just want to tell some of the struggles I have been through as a woman,” she said.

No official release date, title or publisher have been identified as yet.

Chin and her late husband Vincent, started VP Records in 1979, shortly after migrating to the United States. It was similar to Randy's, the successful label and one-stop distribution company they operated in North Parade, downtown Kingston.

VP, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019, is the largest distributor of dancehall/reggae. The company is also one of the most vibrant independent music companies in the digital age.

Vincent, known as Randy, died in 2003 at age 65. His and Pat's children — Chris, Randy and Angela — are principals of VP Records. Pat Chin's grandparents came to Jamaica in the early 1900s from China, and settled in Snow Hill, Portland. She met Vincent during the late 1950s while training to become a nurse and he introduced her to the music business.

Though they were established in Jamaica, moving to New York meant starting over for the Chins. She was amused by rampant sexism in her new home.

“People would call the store and say, 'put a man on the phone 'cause you don't know what you are talking about'. Little did they know that I learned well because I did 20 years on the counter at North Parade,” she recalled. “I know all the songs, all the producers, the singers, the rhythms. I know everything 'cause I studied my craft well.”

Pat Chin was in Jamaica last month for The Blackhead Chineyman symposiums, which focused on the Chinese contribution to Jamaican music.