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Tony Rebel Biography

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Patrick George Anthony Barrett, 13 January 1962, Manchester, Jamaica, West Indies. Rebel started out as singer, winning local talent competitions as Papa Tony or Tony Ranking on Destiny Outernational, Thunderstorm, Wha Dat and Sugar Minott’s Youth Promotion sound systems, but he is perhaps better known as one of the few dreadlocked ‘cultural’ DJs of the ragga era. His first release was ‘Casino Gambling’ on the MGB label and he also recorded tracks for Delroy ‘Callo’ Collins and Shocking Vibes, but he began to fully develop as an artist while at Penthouse Records. He released ‘Fresh Dee-Jay’, ‘Music Fraternity’ and ‘Mandella Story’ before he worked with Cutty Ranks on Die Hard. The album contained two of his first hits, ‘The Armour’ and ‘Instant Death’. Despite their confrontational fervour, Rebel’s spiritual approach and melodic singing style were unique. Rebel had further hits in 1990 with ‘Fresh Vegetable’, ‘DJ Unity’ (with Macka B), ‘The Herb’, ‘War And Crime’ and ‘Hush’ (for Bobby Digital). He worked with several different producers between 1991 and 1992, including Exterminator, Star Trail and the Two Friends label, where he worked with Anthony Red Rose (‘Gun Talk’) and Judy Mowatt (‘Guilty’). Rebel With A Cause was released on Penthouse in 1992. The rootsy follow-up Rebellious was produced by Sky High, and included duets with Half Pint and Garnett Silk. ‘Chatty Chatty Mouth’ was another success with Penthouse but ‘Reggae On Top’ was recorded for Steely And Clevie. He signed to Columbia Records for 1993’s Vibes Of The Times, and the Bobby Digital production, ‘Sweet Jamaica’, was chosen for the soundtrack to the same year’s hit movie Cool Runnings.


Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.


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