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Birth Name: Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell
Place of Birth: Westminster St. Margaret, London, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 22 June, 1937
Ethnicity: * father – English, as well as Irish/Anglo-Irish, Scottish, 1/16th Swiss-Italian * mother – Sephardi Jewish
Chris Blackwell is a British-Jamaican record producer. He founded independent label Island Records.
Chris is the son of Blanche (Lindo) and Major Middleton Joseph Blackwell. His father was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England, and was a major in the Jamaica Regiment. His father’s family was responsible for the Crosse & Blackwell food brand. His mother was born in San José, Costa Rica, to a Sephardi Jewish family, from Jamaica. Some of her ancestors had converted to Christianity. She was an heiress. His mother became known as a friend, mistress, and muse to Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond. Chris’s maternal uncle was industrialist, planter, political economist, and politician Roy Lindo.
Chris was raised mostly in Jamaica, later being sent to England to be educated at Harrow. Chris was married to Mary Vinson Blackwell, until her death.
Chris’s paternal grandfather was William Gordon Blackwell (the son of Samuel John Blackwell and Elizabeth Chrisp Howard). William was born in Middlesex. Samuel was the son of Thomas Blackwell and Jane Ann Bernasconi, whose own father was Swiss-Italian, from Lugano, Canton Ticino. Chris’s great-grandmother Elizabeth was the daughter of Charles Howard and Sarah Catherine Susannah Duff.
Chris’s paternal grandmother was Nina Mary O’Malley (the daughter of Middleton Joseph Moore O’Malley and Letitia Josephine Keyes). Middleton was the son of Peter O’Malley and Julia Lynch Tyrrell. Letitia was the daughter of David Rutledge Keyes and Honoria Lindsey.
Chris’s maternal grandfather was Percival Henriques “Percy” Lindo (the son of Frederick Manahem Lindo and Grace Adelaide Morales). Chris’s grandfather Percival was born in Falmouth, Jamaica, and was a Sephardi Jew. He was a banker, planter, and industrialist; and a Member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica. His brother, Chris’s great-uncle, was banker, industrialist, planter, and philanthropist Cecil Vernon Lindo. Chris’s great-grandfather Frederick was born on Jamaica, and was a merchant and publisher, who was also a Member of the Legislative Council. His own father, Abraham Alexander Lindo, was a merchant, planter, and slaveowner on Jamaica. He was the son of Alexandre/Elisha Lindo, who himself was born in Rue du Petit Barail, Bordeaux, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, the son of Abraham Lindo, who was from Amsterdam, Netherlands. Chris’s great-great-great-grandfather Alexandre Lindo had arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1765, and was a prominent planter and slave merchant. Recent Lindo ancestors had been born in Venice, Italy; Badajoz, Province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain; Guarda, Province of Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain; and London, England. Frederick’s own mother, Chris’s great-great-grandmother, Luna Lindo Henriques, was evidently born in West, Nimba, Liberia.
Chris’s great-grandmother Grace Morales was the daughter of Moses Morales and Louisa Lydia deLisser, who were born on Jamaica. Louisa was also a descendant of the Lindo family. Some of her other ancestors were English Jews, including her paternal grandfather.
Chris’s maternal grandmother was Hilda Violet Lindo (the daughter of Frederick Lindo and Lillian Lydia Delisser). Chris’s grandmother Hilda was a Sephardi Jew. Frederick was born in Port Maria, St. Mary Parish, Jamaica, the son of Henry Lindo Lindo and Augusta Rebecca Lindo. Henry’s brother, Frederick Manahem Lindo, was also Chris’s maternal great-grandfather, through Chris’s maternal grandfather; making Chris’s grandparents first cousins, once removed. Chris’s great-grandmother Lillian was born in Falmouth, Trelawny Parish, Jamaica, the daughter of Henry Ellis DeLisser and Elizabeth Frances McLarty Morales. Elizabeth was the sister of Chris’s maternal great-grandmother Grace Morales; also making Chris’s maternal grandparents first cousins, once removed, again.
Chris is a fourth cousin, twice removed, of American actor and voice actor Will Friedle . Chris’s maternal great-great-great-grandparents, Samuel de Aaron Delisser and Abigail Charlotte Lindo, were also Will’s paternal great-great-great-great-great-grandparents. The two are also fourth cousins, three times removed, through their shared ancestors Alexandre Elisha Lindo and Hannah.
Source: Genealogy of Chris Blackwell – https://www.geni.com