Born in West Kingston in 1962, and recorded his debut single 'My Black Girl' with a cousin in 1977 under the name of the mighty multitudes. A year later he joined Byron Lee & The Dragonnaires as a backing singer and voiced 'A Long Time Since We Dont Have No Love' for Barry Biggs at dynamic. producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes discovered him singing on a local soundsystem, and wasted no time in taking him to Channel One for the first of many hit singles in 1979.
Wth the Channel One All-Stars (later to form the nucleus of the Roots Radics) laying the rhythms, and Scientist mixing the finished results at King Tubby's, the new singer caused a sensation right from the start, ushering the dancehall phase at the same time. those early singles 'A Yah We Deh', 'Shine Eye Gal' and 'Moonlight Lover' were later collected on his debut album 'Bounty Hunter' which appeared on the Jah Life label in the states. help came in the shape of paul love, aka jah screw, who had been the selector for U-Roys King Sturgav Soundsystem in Jamaica before teaming up first with DJ Ranking Joe as a producer, then on his own. their first release was the anthemic 'Under Mi Sensi', a formidable wailing with a power and depth unequaled before or since. immediately the song became a classic, staying in the reggae charts for weeks on end. it was closely followed by 'Murderer' for Jah Life and then Barrington and Jah Screws 'Here I Come' in 1985 which was a national chart-hit through a major label deal with london records, ultimately leading to his first UK tv appearances. Barrington has recently worked with shine on Puff Daddys label and has enjoyed several re-workings of his earlier classics which have been lent to different genres of dance music.
|
|