- Bob Marley
Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley OM (February 6, 1945 – May 11 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist. He is the most widely known performer of reggae music. A faithful Rastafari, Marley is regarded by many as a prophet of the religion. Marley is best known for his reggae songs, which include the hits "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Three Little Birds", "Exodus", "Could You Be Loved", "Jammin", "Redemption Song", and "One Love". - Beenie Man
Beenie Man (born Anthony Moses Davis August 22, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica), is among the most popular reggae entertainers and is a well established dancehall artist. - Sean Paul
Sean Paul Henriques (born January 8 1973) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist. He is professionally known only by his first names, Sean Paul. Sean Paul was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and spent his early years "comfortably" (according to his VH1 biography) in Upper Saint Andrew Parish, a few miles north of his birthplace. His parents were both talented athletes, and his mother Frances, is a well-known painter. - Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh (October 19, 1944 - September 11, 1987) was the guitarist in the original Wailing Wailers, a pioneer reggae musician, and a trailblazer for the Rastafari movement. Born Winston Hubert McIntosh, Peter grew up in the Kingston, Jamaica slum of Trenchtown. His short-fuse temper and unveiled sarcasm usually kept him in trouble, earning him the nickname Stepping Razor after a song written by Joe Higgs, an early mentor. - Dennis Brown
Dennis Emanuel Brown was a Jamaican reggae singer. He had recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the pioneers of lovers rock. Bob Marley dubbed him the "Crown Prince of Reggae". Brown's first recording was "Lips of Wine" recorded for Derrick Harriott (The Musical Chariot), but this was not released initially. He then recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, and Dodd released Brown's first single, "No Man is an Island". - Elephant Man
Elephant Man, also known as The Energy God, (born O'Neil Bryan on September 11, 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a dancehall musician. His stagename stemmed from his large ears, which led to the nickname Dumbo in his youth. "Ele" started out his musical career as a member of the Scare Dem Crew, later continuing as a solo artist. He was later characterized for several trademarks, such as his yellow-orange hair, … - Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican sprinter, and is currently the 100m co-world record holder with Justin Gatlin, with a time of 9.77 seconds. - Buju Banton
Buju Banton (born Mark Anthony Myrie 1972) is a Jamaican dancehall, ragga, and reggae singer & producer. - Burning Spear
Winston Rodney (born March 1, 1948), also known as Burning Spear, is a Grammy Award winning Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Like many famous Jamaican reggae artists, Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages. Rodney was born in Saint Ann's Bay, Saint Ann, Jamaica, as were Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey; who both had a great influence on Rodney's life. Garvey in his philosophy, which Burning Spear greatly took to, … - Bounty Killer
Bounty Killer (born Rodney Basil Price June 12, 1972 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, known for his hard work in combating poverty and helping new artists. The last son in a family of nine, he grew up in the rough part of Kingston, Jamaica, in the neighbourhood of Seaview Gardens. His mother stayed at home while his father went out to earn a living. He started performing under the name Bounty Hunter but one day, … - Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff OM (born James Chambers, 1 April 1948, St Catherine, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae musician, best known among mainstream audiences for songs like "Sittin' in Limbo", "You Can Get It If You Really Want It" and "Many Rivers to Cross" from "The Harder They Come", a film soundtrack which helped popularise reggae across the world. - Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt (born 21 August 1986 in Trelawny) is a Jamaican sprinter and current world junior record holder over the 200 m, with a time of 19.93s (+1.4 m/s). He is the only junior (under 20 years of age) ever to have run the 200 m under 20 seconds. - Gregory Isaacs
Gregory Anthony Isaacs (born 15 July, 1950) is a Jamaican reggae musician. Isaacs was born in Fletchers Land, Kingston, Jamaica. In the 1970s, he emerged as one of the most prolific and popular recording artists in Jamaica. He released a number of self-produced singles on his African Museum (JA) record label, formed in 1973 with Errol Dunkley. Much of Isaacs' output reflected the 'conscious' themes of roots reggae, … - Horace Andy
Horace Andy (born Horace Hinds, 19 February 1951, Kingston, Jamaica), is a roots reggae singer, known for hits such as "Government Land", "You Are My Angel", "Skylarking" and a cover version of "Ain't No Sunshine". Andy made his earliest recordings in the late 1960s, at Coxsone Dodd's Studio One. Known for his distinctive falsetto vocal style, he sang on many classic productions for reggae producers, including Phil Pratt, King Tubby and Prince Jammy. - Alton Ellis
Alton Ellis (born 1944, in Kingston, Jamaica), is a musician best known as the innovator of rocksteady music. Ellis started his career in 1959 as part of a duo with Eddie Perkins. Alton and Eddie recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One before Perkins moved to the US. Duke Reid took Ellis to his Treasure Isle label in 1962. By the mid-60's Ska was moving on and the beat was slowing down to cool the 'rude-boy' culture in the Jamaican dancehalls. - Jah Cure
Jah Cure (real name Siccature Alcock) is a Jamaican reggae musician. He was born on October 11th, 1978 in Hanover, Jamaica and raised in Kingston. He was given the name Jah Cure by Capleton whom he met while growing up in Kingston. His first big break came in 1997 when he released the single "King of the Jungle" which was a duet with Sizzla. The single was produced by Beres Hammond who went on to become his mentor. - John Holt
John Holt (born John Kenneth Holt, 11 July 1947, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae singer and songwriter. He first achieved prominence in his home country as lead singer of The Paragons. They are best remembered for the Holt penned song "The Tide Is High", later made famous by Blondie and also covered by Atomic Kitten. "Wear You To The Ball" was another of his hits with The Paragons, later covered by U-Roy. Holt went solo in 1970. - Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs (born Joel A. Gibson in Montego Bay, 1945) is a Jamaican reggae producer. - Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., National Hero of Jamaica (August 17, 1887 - June 10, 1940), was a publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, Black nationalist, orator, black separatist, and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). Garvey was born in St. Ann's Bay, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica to Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Sr., a mason, and Sarah Jane Richards, a domestic worker and farmer. - Sugar Minott
Sugar Minott (born Lincoln Barrington Minott, May 25 1956, in Kingston) is a Jamaican singer. He began his career as part of The African Brothers along with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard in 1969. The group had several successful singles, and were an early example of the Rastafari movement's influence on the Jamaican music scene. After 1974's "No Cup No Broke", the African Brothers broke up (see 1974 in music). Minnott's solo career was slow to take off. - Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby (June 21, 1954 - May 18, 1999), better known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He was perhaps the first person to use the melodica as a viable musical instrument. He was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica and learned to play the organ in Kingston College School. It was at that point an unnamed girl lent him the melodica. - Prince Buster
Cecil Bustamente Campbell (born May 28, 1938), better known as Prince Buster, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica and regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he made on the Blue Beat label in the 1960s inspired many reggae and ska artists. - Jackie Mittoo
Jackie Mittoo was a Jamaican keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. Mittoo was among the true legends of reggae - a founding member of The Skatalites and an extraordinarily prolific songwriter, he was perhaps most influential as a mentor to countless younger performers, primarily through his work as the musical director at the famed Studio One. - Anthony B
Anthony B is the stage name of Keith Blair (born March 31, 1976), a Jamaican musician. - Busta Rhymes
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr. (born on May 20 1972), better known as Busta Rhymes, is an American hip hop musician and actor of Jamaican descent. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the name Busta Rhymes (from former NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes) after watching him perform. He is also a follower of the Nation of Islam offshoot, The Nation of Gods and Earths. - Beres Hammond
Beres Hammond (b. 28 August 1955) is a reggae singer from Jamaica who is known in particular for his romantic lovers rock. While his career began in the 1970s, he reached his greatest success in the 1990s. Born Hugh Beresford Hammond, the ninth of ten children, along Annotto Bay in Saint Mary parish; grew up listening to his father's collection of American soul and jazz music; including Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. - Ken Boothe
Ken Boothe (born 22 March 1948 - there is a controversy surrounding his birth date; most sources say he was born in 1948 - Denham Town, Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican recording artist. - Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer and songwriter. Together with his backing group, "The Aces" (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with “Israelites”. Other hits include “007 (Shanty Town)” (1967) and “It Miek” (1969). Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was one of the most popular musicians within Jamaica, and one of the best-known musicians outside it. - Barrington Levy
Barrington Levy (born 30 April 1964, in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a reggae and dancehall recording artist. - Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan (born April 19, 1949, Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica), better known as Big Youth (sometimes called Jah Youth), is a Jamaican DJ, mostly known for his work during the 1970s. Influenced by U-Roy, he started singing with Lord Tippertone's sound system in 1970. His first LP "Chi Chi Run" was produced by Prince Buster in 1971. The name of the band Sonic Youth is in part a tribute to Big Youth. - Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor (born 27 June 1956, Clarendon, Jamaica) has been variously a singer, musician and producer. - Max Romeo
Max Romeo (born Maxwell Livingston Smith, 22 November 1944, in Alexandria, in St. Ann, Jamaica), is a reggae recording artist who has achieved chart success in his home country, and in the UK. - Lady Saw
Marion Hall, stage name Lady Saw, is a Jamaican singer, known as "the first Lady of Dancehall". She is the first female deejay to win a Grammy (which she did with No Doubt for "Underneath It All" - Best Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal), to go triple platinum with the same single, to go gold (with Vitamin C for "Smile"), and to headline shows outside her native Jamaica. - Vybz Kartel
Vybz Kartel (born Adidja Azim Palmer in 1976) is a famous Jamaican dancehall deejay. - Bruce Golding
Bruce Golding (born on December 5, 1947 in Jamaica) is a Jamaican politician, and currently the head of the Jamaica Labour Party, the main opposition party in the Jamaican parliament. He is married to Lorna Golding and has three children, Steven, Sherene and Ann-Merita. Golding was the founder of the Jamaican National Democratic Movement (NDM). - Don Carlos
Don Carlos (born Euvin Spencer) is a Jamaican reggae singer and composer. He was born and raised in Western Kingston, Jamaica in a very deprived district known as Waterhouse out of which came many talented reggae musicians. One such artist was King Tubby, one of the founders of Black Uhuru, The Jays, Junior Reid and King Jammy. Don Carlos began singing in 1973 as a member of Black Uhuru. - Frankie Paul
Frankie Paul (born Paul Blake, 1965, Jamaica) is one of Jamaica's best-loved and popular dancehall reggae artists. Born almost blind, he has been dubbed by some 'The Jamaican Stevie Wonder'. He has recorded for virtually every producer/studio in Jamaica at some time, and has been known to release several albums a year. Notable works include the popular "Sara" and "Worries in the Dance". - Nitty Gritty
Glen Augustus Holness, otherwise known by his stage name Nitty Gritty, was a popular Reggae singer. Born in 1957 in the August Town section of Kingston, Jamaica, he was the second of eleven children born to religious parents. Before joining up with King Jammy in 1985, he worked with Joe Gibbs, started a group called The Soulites, and was training to be an electrician. The first hit he recorded with King Jammy was "Hog Inna Minty", a Jamaican folk song. - Portia Simpson-Miller
Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller, ON, MP (born 12 December 1945 in Wood Hall, St. Catherine Parish) is, since 30 March 2006, the Prime Minister of Jamaica. She replaced outgoing Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, becoming the first female head of government of the nation and the third in the Anglophone Caribbean following Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Janet Jagan of Guyana. She also holds the position of president of the ruling People's National Party. - Shinehead
Shinehead (born Carl Aiken) is a Jamaican reggae singer/rapper. He began his music by recording for different reggae dancehall sound systems in 1980. His debut was in 1986 on the African Love Music indie label with the underground hit "Who The Cap Fits (Let Them Wear It)" from the album "Rough & Rugged". Shinehead signed to Elektra records in 1988 and remained with them until 1995.
|
| |