Sicature Alcock, 1980, St. James, Jamaica, West Indies. Jah Cure emerged in 1997 as a roots and culture singer. He joined Beres Hammond’s Harmony House crew where he was asked to record in combination with Sizzla. The result of this session culminated in the release of the internationally successful, ‘King Of The Jungle’. He followed his debut with ‘Divid
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Clifford Smith, 1975, St. Andrew, Jamaica, West Indies. Smith spent his adolescence nurturing his soccer skills, and his tackling proficiency led to the nickname of Vegas, a reference to the twisting skills of the go-go dancers at the local Las Vegas Club. Smith began his musical career in 1986 when he visited a recording studio in Kingston. His recording career was put on h
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Rodney Basil Price, 12 June 1972, Riverton City, Jamaica, West Indies. Coming from a dancehall background, his father ran the Black Scorpio Sound System, and it was not long before he picked up the microphone himself. He soon became known performing on other sound systems, including Stereo Two and Metromedia. His first recording session was in the spring of 1992 at King Jamm
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Miguel Orlando Collins, 17 April 1977, Jamaica, West Indies. Sizzla served his musical apprenticeship on the Caveman Hi-Fi sound system, and in 1995 he released his debut through Zagalou before joining the Firehouse crew. He released a number of singles in Jamaica, notably ‘Judgement Morning’, ‘Lifes Road’, ‘Blaspheme’ and a combination with Sha
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Morgan Heritage initially comprised eight of Denroy Morgan’s children. The line-up featured Denroy Junior (1970, Jamaica, West Indies; drums) and Jeffrey (b. 1971, Jamaica, West Indies; lead guitar). The other six siblings were born in New York, USA: Una (b. 1973; vocals/keyboards), David (b. 1974; bass), Roy (b. 1976; vocals/keyboards) and Peter (b. 1977; vocals/keyboa
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Clifton George Bailey III, 13 April 1967, Islington, St. Mary, Jamaica, West Indies. Bailey earned his future stage name by virtue of his sharp reasoning skills, which led his friends to name him after a lawyer in his home town. By 1994, Capleton’s work for the African Star label had led to him being regarded as one of the most innovative cultural DJs of his generation.
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Beresford Hammond, 1955, St. Mary, Jamaica, West Indies. Success came late to Hammond in the form of numerous awards for Best Male Vocalist during the early 90s. He joined Zap Pow as a teenager after singing on local talent shows. By the time Hammond left the group in 1980, he had already recorded his debut, Soul Reggae, which was produced by Willie Lindo, and was working on
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Richell Bonner, 1975, Rock Hall, St. Andrew, Jamaica, West Indies. Bonner comes from a musical family that includes his siblings, Spanner Banner, Pliers and Snatcher Dog. Spice’s debut release, ‘Killing A Sound’, was recorded with Dennis ‘Star’ Hayes and introduced the singer to the reggae cognoscenti. The song attracted the attention of Clive Hunt,
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Rupert Clarke, 10 September 1975, Germany. One of the leading vocalists to emerge from the soca scene at the start of the twenty-first century, Rupee enjoyed mainstream crossover success in 2004 with the US hit ‘Tempted To Touch’. Born in Germany to a Barbadian father and German mother, Clarke spent part of his childhood in England before moving with his family to
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Lescott Kevin Lyttle Coombs, 14 September 1976, Kingstown, St. Vincent, West Indies. Singer Lyttle is best known for ‘Turn Me On’, one of the biggest soca hits of the new millennium and an astonishing crossover success in the mainstream pop charts. Lyttle began performing at the age of 14 as a dancer with his uncle’s band. He also began performing in a vocal g
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