Warrior King was born on the 27th of July,
1979, in Kingston’s Jubilee Hospital, soon moving to Clarendon,
then settling in the growing city of Portmore at age eleven. “From
birth I’ve always loved music, but it was not until I attended
high school at the age of thirteen that I thought about it as something
I could do myself,” Warrior King explains. “At that time
I followed Bounty Killer’s style, but then my friend Warrior Mark,
him said, ‘You have the potential. You have the talent.’
From there I started increasing my own thing, and with encouragement
from my peers and inspiration and t’ing, the music started to
flow.” Like many successful Jamaican entertainers, Warrior King
gained his earliest stage experience in talent shows. “I started
out with school concerts at first,“ he says. “At the time
when I just came inna music, I used to do some combinations with a yout’
named Likkle Blacks, Marlon Stewart. We used to do Tastee’s Talent
Show together, so we could really start getting exposed and gain experience.”
When he first started out Warrior King chatted in a hardcore deejay
style, like his original hero, Bounty. A switch to the more holistic
“singjay” sound came gradually. “It’s a natural
thing what just grow inside of me, even without me realizing,”
the singer reasons. “People started telling me they hear I can
sing now. So, really and truly it’s just a natural change.”
Even his name is an extension of this evolution. “I changed my
name from ‘Junior King’ to ‘Warrior King’ because
it have a more spiritual feel to it. Fighting against oppression, fighting
against wrong. I’m Jah warrior, yuh know, fighting a war of rootical
love. ”
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