community. In 1958, Blackwell was sailing off Hellshire Beach when his boat ran aground on a coral reef. The twenty-one-year-old swam to the coast and attempted to find help along the shore in searing temperatures. Collapsing on the beach, Blackwell was rescued by Rasta fishermen who tended his wounds and restored him to health with traditional Ital food. The experience gave Blackwell a spiritual introduction to the Rastafarian lifestyle, and was a key to his connection to the culture and its music. Founding Island Records Only in his early 20s, Blackwell formed Island Records in 1958 with a start-up investment of $10,000 provided by his parents. The business took its name from Alec Waugh's novel Island in the Sun. Radio personality Graeme Goodall was his initial business partner. Blackwell received an allowance of £2,000 per year from his mother, which enabled him to have his own apartment at a young age and build on the low revenue that the business was bringing in. Island's debut release was a piano and vocal album by Bermudan jazz pianist Lance Hayward. Blackwell began recording Jamaican popular music in 1959, achieving a number one hit there with Laurel Aitken's "Boogie in my Bones/Little Sheila". In 1961, Blackwell was a location scout and production assistant for the Bond film Dr. No (1962). After the film wrapped, producer Harry Saltzman offered him a full-time position. Conflicted between music and film, Blackwell visited a psychic, who told him that he would be successful if he stayed in the music industry. Commercial breakthrough By the following year, the fledgling record producer had released 26 singles and two albums on Island. Blackwell returned to England that year and continued to grow his business. He began having success with the niche market of Jamaican music, and progressed to bringing in licensed master tapes. One of these contained a performance by Jamaican singer Millie Small (1947–2020), who Blackwell brought over to England. In 1964, he produced Small's cover of a 1956 song "My Boy Lollipop" by American singer Barbie Gaye, which was one of the first songs recorded in the ska style. Small's version was a massive hit in 1964, selling over 7 million copies worldwide. It launched Island Records into mainstream popular music, and is acknowledged as the first ska hit. It also made Small an international star at such a very young age. Blackwell later recalled his decision to