Blackford was born in
Morant Bay, Jamaica, c.1945, and moved to
Wandsworth, London in 1962. With his surname borrowed from one of Jamaica's leading sound system operators and producers,
Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Blackford operated his own Coxsone Sound system in London from 1965 through to the 1980s, gaining a residency in the 1970s at the Roaring Twenties club in
Carnaby Street. In the mid- and late-1970s he launched his own Safari, Tribesman and Outernational labels. These mixed his own productions featuring musicians such as
Matumbi with rhythms produced in Jamaica by
Gussie Clarke, with the second album also featuring mixes by
Scientist. In the mid-1980s, Coxsone took a back seat with his sound system, allowing younger men such as
Blacker Dread to take a leading role. He was paid tribute by
I-Roy on the single "Lloyd Coxsone Time". ==Productions==