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After one decade, six albums, two of them multi-platinum, five 1 hits, and eleven top ten singles world wide, Grammy winning Big Yard recording artist Shaggy is still on the grind. Making music that celebrates his culture and being an ambassador for Reggae music has always been the driving force in the heart of Jamaica’s only living Diamond-plus selling artist.
In the early 1990’s Shaggy entered the scene with his deep throaty remix of the Ska classic ‘Oh Carolina’, the first major Reggae record to come out of the dancehall underground. Soon after, the steady dub rhythm of the platinum selling Boombastic solidified Shaggy as a dancehall hit-maker winning the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.
Fall of 2005 found Shaggy releasing Clothes Drop an album that gave his audience chart topping dancehall singles like “Wild2Nite” and “Ready Fi Di Ride”. Steady contributions to the dancehall are what keep Shaggy current.
When the tiny baby boy echoed his first cry on August 22 in Waterhouse, Kingston Jamaica, it was no ordinary sound but a symbol of great things to come. A revolution was on the verge for the dancehall industry on that day when Moses Davis a.ka. Beenie Man was born. He is the youngest artiste to have ever entered the thriving dancehall business in the early 80’s at the age of 10 and to rock the microphone like any veteran. While ordinary children would be busy playing football, marble games and other childhood indulgences, Beenie Man was having studio sessions and writing songs, this was a clear indication that Beenie man would eventually become a fixture in the entertainment industry.
Beenie Man was soon attending business meetings with record producer Junjo Lawes, who later reordered his first big single “Too Fancy”.
Born in London of Jamaican parents, his father was a renowned sound system operator within the Caribbean community, so music was very much a staple diet within his household. His first start at DJ-ing came when he bought an old gramophone from a jumble sale.
As the teen years began it wasnt long before he was getting together with his brother and some close friends to establish a sound system called President Downbeat. This was Daddy Ernies apprenticeship because as well as the kudos of being part of a sound system, this gave him a huge and invaluable insight into what it took to be a top operator and selector.
Daddy Ernie was a disciple of the King Trojan sound system which had a strong association with the all powerful Trojan Record company.
Chris experimented with a sound system when he was at school in Kingston . His first gig was in Jamaica in 1985 with a sound called Soul Symphony Disco. Chris earned the title “Goldfinger” after playing in St. Catherine , Jamaica one night and mixing two totally different records to make one incredible beat. When he's not out DJing he's either playing his huge music collection, playing football or dominoes, or just jazzing up his rides, as he's now big in the car game.
Apart from touring extensively worldwide, Chris has been a reggae ambassador in the Gambia and has been requested by the government of the country to perform there annually at the Roots homecoming festival.
There are so many names for Lady Saw: The Queen of Dancehall; The First Lady of Dancehall, or the latest one Mamma Saw. The latest name however is quite befitting at this point in her career because she is the Matriarch for all female dancehall deejays, and arguably some female rappers. She is the first female deejay to win a Grammy and to headline shows outside her native Jamaica .It was the late 80s when Lady Saw (born Marion Hall), just 15 at the time, left behind her little tomboy self who used to sell fruits and race wooden karts for the young woman who made it out of the Kingston inner city to become a first-rate recording artist. She became a regular in the studio after quitting her sewing job at the Free Zone on the outskirts of Kingston . VP Records became interested in Saw when they realised how captivating she was. She has been signed to the label for almost 10 years. Since then her commercial hits include , - “Healing” with Beenie Man.Today Lady Saw has her own production company, Hall Productions. She produced major dancehall artists Capelton, Spragga Benz, Sizzla, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man. She has recorded for Shaggy, legendary producers Sly & Robbie, Funkmaster Flex, and Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes . She has appeared on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. And, she is the only dancehall aartist to have her song, - Give Me the Reason, covered by a country singer.lady Saw aspires to speak for all women. For one, she can relate. She is Mama to 3 adopted children: one girl and 2 boys. She's almost married, has been through her share of heartbreak and infidelity. And being one of the few females in a male-dominated industry, she's definitely experienced sexism. She addresses what she considers to be the real issues women face, being daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters and mothers in this modern world while still being strip teasingly sexy.