Born Everton Dennis in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica, E-Dee was the youngest of 8 siblings. His musical career began in the church, where he sang in the choir. His mother was very religious and did not allow E-Dee to listen to music other than gospel because she considered dancehall/reggae to be profane. So E-Dee’s early musical experience was steeped in gospel. Sadly his mother passed without warning when he was 12 years old and a young E-Dee had to grow up quickly. Working hard to earn money for his school uniform and books E-Dee learned early on that if you want anything you must be dedicated and focused. It was that diligence applied to his musical career that would bring E-Dee to his dreams.
After completing his secondary education he moved to America to pursue his music career and study acting. While in the U.S. E-Dee’s steady exposure to Hip-Hop and R&B began to influence his writing, infusing the American slang with Jamaican Patois E-Dee’s sound began to evolve.
Ending up in Los Angeles, E-Dee began performing at showcases. Word soon got out about this 6’5” rapper from Jamaica that was building a following. It wasn’t long before promoters began putting E-Dee on the bill of major festivals. With two CD’s selling strong in the streets soon E-Dee was sharing the stage with the biggest names in Dancehall/Reggae including Sizzla, Wayne Wonder, CeCille, Shaggy, Beenie Man, Sean Paul, Elephant Man, Beres Hammond, Lady Saw and the list goes on. Not to be ruled out as only a dancehall/reggae favorite his cross-over appeal has landed him shows opening for Hip-Hop artists D-12 and Ja Rule and got him collaborations with Capitol recording artist Houston.
In 2004 platinum record producer Qmillion sought out E-Dee to collaborate with Junior P. and Ms Triniti on the song “Hot Again” which was one of E-Dee’s four collaborations with Ms Triniti on her debut album Ragga Hop. Qmillion was so impressed with E-Dee’s talent that he immediately signed him to Unseen Lab Recordings and began recording a full length CD with E-Dee. During the recording of the album EDee headed to New York to film a cameo appearance in the urban action film “The Party” starring RL from the r&b group Next, and Darryl Hammond from Saturday Night Live. E-Dee also contributed 4 songs to the soundtrack of the movie.
While most dancehall cd’s center one subject; women, E-Dee’s 18 song album entitled “JA 2 LA 2 DI WORLD” takes you along E-Dee’s journey through life, touching on many subjects from the struggles of surviving in Babylon, to jealousy and envy of haters in the industry, to party life in the clubs on the dancefloor, to love and relationships, to the last song on the cd dedicated to his mother, “Mamma”.
The first release from the album is the double single “R U Ready?” an uptempo club banger and “Between the Sheets’ a lovers-rock reggae version of the Isley Brothers hit. The double single is gaining momentum around the U.S. topping the regional charts for DJ’s in Connecticut, Los Angles, Miami, Mpls, and is steadily catching on around the rest of the country. The music video for “R U Ready” shot in Compton, CA will be serviced to BET and other outlets this fall and features a cameo appearance by Amorossa from The Apprentice and The Surreal Life.
The sound of E-Dee’s album “JA 2 LA 2 DI WORLD” represents a new sound in dancehall/reggae, influenced by Hip-Hop and R&B that is appealing to a whole new market as well as dancehall’s traditional fans. Energetic, exciting, emotional and raw this artist is poised to be the next Jamaican to capture the attention of music lovers around the world and take dancehall/reggae to the next level. The title of the album says it best; JA 2 LA 2 DI WORLD, here comes E-Dee.

Sizzla Kalonji began his career in the music industry in his early teenage years. At that time, he was also attempting to begin a career as a mechanic, as his father operated a garage of sorts. The career as a mechanic would soon take a back seat to the music and eventually fade. He recorded many unacclaimed singles for various producers throughout most of his early years, many of which have not been released to this date. His style at that time was in stark contrast to his mature and developed flow today, as is to be expected with any young talent that is beginning to blossom. Sizzla did not really begin to "come into his own" and become the artiste with whom we are now familiar until the mid 90's, when he was signed by Mr. Fattis Burrell, owner and CEO of Xterminator Records. Xterminator has produced and managed some of the biggest current talent in reggae such as Buju Banton, Luciano, Beres Hammond and others. At that point in the mid 90's after signing his deal, Sizzla obtained a visa and began touring overseas with Luciano and Buju Banton as an opening act for them. He also began growing his locks at this time and preaching a Rasta oriented message as opposed to the mundane music of his previous years. The point at which Sizzla arrived on the scene is pivotal due to the fact that a "Roots Revival" was occuring at the time with Garnet Silk and Luciano as its frontmen. In the earlier dancehall music that was characteristic of the mid 80's to mid 90's, "slack" lyrics were the order of the day. These were lyrics that promoted guns, sex, etc. Hence the term, "slack." The main purveyors of this genre of dancehall were artists such as Shabba Ranks, Admiral Bailey, Ninjaman and Supercat, among others. Garnet Silk who was by all means the main figurehead for the Roots Revival movement, was killed at his home in Manchester, Jamaica in December '94 due to a gas cylinder explosion in his yard. Upon the loss of Garnet Silk, the movement geared up for the arrival of a new messiah to lead the Nation. However, it would be a few years before Sizzla Kalonji would actually step forth and assume his throne rightfully, without dispute. Sizzla, although newly signed to a record deal with Xterminator, had a relatively slow start. His first album, 'Burning Up' was released in 1995 as well as a few singles that got decent rotation. But Sizzla's big debut hit tune would also come in that year. This was the tune, 'No White God', in which he espoused his newly adopted Bobo Ashanti ideal of a Black Messiah, which was acquired during a pilgrimage to Zion, otherwise known as Bobo Hill, where he was "crowned" by the preists there as a Bobo Ashanti. These lyrics were markedly different from his previous Rasta inspired lyrics and it was evident that Sizzla had gained new power as a result of his pilgrimage. Soon after the release of 'No White God', Sizzla's relations with fellow Xterminator label mate Luciano began to deteriorate due to the fact that the two had begun to blaze different trails within the same music. Luciano represented a mild force, while Sizzla began to become publicly associated with his true element; Fire. The result was foreseeable and while Luciano and Sizzla had many musical combinations and toured together frequently in Sizzla's early days, Sizzla was entering a new dimension in his career and developed into the Fiyah Man that we now familiar with. When 'No White God' hit the streets and gained momentum, Sizzla's fame increased as well. Conventional wisdom asserts that it was at this time that Sizzla began to associate with other fiery Bobo Ashanti elements in the music such as Capleton and his David House organisation. In all reality, Sizzla was beginning to become so popular that it was Capleton who sought the company of Sizzla, and not vice-versa. This is an important distinction because at that time, Capleton was a far more established and reputed artist than Sizzla. The two began to tour frequently together and it was a rare occasion that one would be mentioned without the other's name soon following. Not long after the release of 'No White God,' Sizzla released what is arguably his most critically acclaimed album to date entitled, 'Black Woman & Child' for Bobby Digital. This album catapulted Sizzla into the stratosphere and finally into his throne as the 'King of Reggae.' Soon after, Sizzla adopted the name 'Kalonji' which means 'victorious.' Very shortly after the release of 'Black Woman & Child', Sizzla further cemented his royal status in the music with the release of 'Praise Ye Jah' on the Xterminator label. There was no doubt in the minds of the people that Sizzla Kalonji would be here to stay after the release of 'Praise Ye Jah'.

Born Windel Beneto Edwards on October 25th, in the King Weston District of St. Andrew to a Seventh Day Adventist mother and Rastafarian father, Gyptian received his musical calling at the age of 7, when he began singing in the church. Recognizing his God-given talent, his parents soon introduced the resistant youngster to Mr. Wong, a producer from Portmore in St. Catherine. I did not take it seriously. My family members have always been carrying me to Portmore to see him, but I usually disappear. One day, they dropped me off at his studio and left me and it all began there. Under the guidance of Mr. Wong and Earl Chinna Smith, Gyptian honed his unique sound, winning the 2004 Star Search talent competition at Kens Wild Flower Lounge in Portmore, earning him a spot at Sting 2004, dubbed the greatest one night reggae show on earth. Nicknamed from his habit of tying a shirt around his head and twisting his chin hair like an Egyptian pharaoh, the young, gifted, and conscious singer is very protective of keeping his sound 100% Gyptian. You have to think about what people think and how they feel, the real things that people see. Any track at all you hear from Gyptian, right by my fingers out of my head." With his highly anticipated debut album due in late 2006, Gyptian looks forward to sharing his musical message with the masses. At this juncture in my life, I live, eat, and breathe musicthe very air that comes from my mouth brings words of power and wisdom. I have the urge to teach my brothers and sisters until eternity."

Not even ten chariots with horses can stop this new Reggae voice on the scene… no, its not a novelty act, but one that is destined for legendary status. A ‘natural’ man of superb talent has risen like a Phoenix…some would say, its Jah will. Coming from the combination of a Nurse and a Singer, “healing music” is how he appropriately describes his music. Tarrus Riley has thrown his hat in the race, with a no-doubt approach that says, “I’m here to stay”. The singer who gave us “Larger than Life” and “Barber Chair” on his first album Challenges on the Yaman Label, is back at it, and even better than before. His sophomore album Parables, is currently being distributed by VP records. Parables…’a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson’. The album is suitably titled, as each song is a lesson from the book of life. Boasting 14 original tracks out of 15, produced by the multi-faceted Dean Fraser, Parables is a respectable achievement for this young artiste. His mother, Lavern, has been a strong supporter of his music from day one. He was originally produced by his father, Singer Jimmy Riley, on his label ‘Love & Promotion’. Tarrus also gained experience from Heavy Beat and Main Street, while teaching himself how to play the keyboard and percussion instruments…Kette, Congo and Bongo. He views his cooking similar to his music. He says every man seasons his pot different, and for him, each instrument that makes up a song, is the same as each seasoning that makes up the pot. No wonder Tarrus’ music is always a potpourri of musical progressions, melodies and not to mention the soulful voice that he has become known for. The Title track, Parables written by Tarrus on Max Romeo’s Three Blind Mice rhythm, cautions us to ‘read between the lines’. Tarrus said its the first he has ever done a cover version of someone else’s song, John Legend’s, “Stay With You”. This song will prove to be one of the perpetual classics from Tarrus Riley. “She’s Royal” is the kind of song that creeps up on you, with an excellent arrangement. The anthemic “Lion Paw” offers a stamp of approval, with rhythm. And then Della Manley helps to bring us home to “Family”, a real groove-finder capped off by a melodious chorus. Sold! Tarrus Riley, young, gifted and Bold!

Busy Signal is still in his early twenties. He’s only been a professional artist for little over four years, and yet his songs and the way he expresses them are now the pulse by which modern-day dancehall is measured. Witness for example, the power of “Jail”, which he wrote about his own brief stay in a US jail – an episode he’s now transformed into a master class for others. “If they could teach Shakespeare and things like that in music, then everybody would pass and there wouldn’t be a dull student in the world,” he says, “because once you have good music teaching some kind of message, then people catch onto it that much easier. Music is that powerful.” “Jail” now appears on Busy’s groundbreaking second album Loaded, released by VP Records on September 9th. This eagerly awaited landmark contains other hits like “These Are The Days,” “Real Jamaican” with Michael Rose and the gloriously infectious “Unknown Number.” All have been taking dancehall charts by storm, despite their obvious differences in style. That’s one of Busy’s trademarks, and driven by his outstanding mic technique and restless creativity, Loaded brims with versatility. His sense of fun and mischief is allowed full rein on dancehall tracks like “Wine Pon De Edge”, “Hey Girl”, “Tic Toc” and “Cool It Baby”, which Busy programmed himself. Yet it’s his powerful commentaries on the ghetto lifestyle, like “These Are The Days”, that have lent Busy Signal’s art its raw edge, and made him into such a potent mouthpiece for the disenfranchised youth of Jamaica and beyond. “Knocking At Your Door”, “People So Evil” and “Curfew”, which he wrote after witnessing the Kingston police attempting to shut down local dances, are the latest examples of this, whereupon real life and his talent for storytelling combine to often spine-chilling effect. Busy’s already proved a trendsetter after slowing the beat down on “These Are The Days” and deejaying a form of consciousness founded in reality, rather than religion. Its success paved the way for similar, symphonic ghetto hymns by Demarco, Mavado and others – songs that reflect the times and places we’re living in just as vividly as any movie. Busy’s roots are in dancehall, and after spending part of his upbringing in Tivoli Gardens , Standpipe and Papine, his ghetto credentials could never be in doubt. Yet Busy’s music is all about growth and with new management behind him – Juke Boxx’s Shane Brown – it’s no surprise to discover that he’s recently been keeping company with artists of a rather different stature, like Damian Marley, Morgan Heritage, Alborosie, former Black Uhuru singer Michael Rose and the Queen of Reggae, Marcia Griffiths. “I’ve been longing to make songs with some of those veteran artists,” he explains. “It’s a real experience being in the studio with artists like those. They know so much, and they are also bringing out the positive side of me as a dancehall act. I’m learning from them because they set the t’ing, and I try and keep it on that kind of level right now. I’m looking to talk about a wider range of things, more than just guns and girls. I want to make songs that are more conscious, and have a more positive feel to them, y’know? I want to be giving them more topics, and also voicing on different kinds of music as well.” It takes courage to embrace change and push back the boundaries, but that’s what Busy Signal has done throughout his career. He’s transcended everything bad and negative the ghetto lifestyle has thrown at him, and seems to redefine dancehall music every time he steps into a studio, or visits a local school and presents it with badly needed computer equipment. Already, some believe this is the album that’ll take Busy Signal to a next level, and become a milestone of dancehall history, just like Buju Banton’s Til Shiloh a generation or so ago. That’s because as well as honing his musical skills, he’s responded to what’s happening around him with a degree of integrity that cannot help but uplift and inspire others. Busy rose to prominence as a member of Bounty Killer’s Alliance and it shows. This was an aggregate of artists designed to strengthen and highlight the talented youngsters – like Busy and Mavado – who looked to Bounty as their chief inspiration and mentor. Busy, real name Reanno Gordon, was born and schooled in Brown’s Town before moving to Kingston with his mother and two brothers as a teenager. His mother raised her three sons alone, and has been a practising Christian all her life. Busy’s first musical experiences came from singing alongside her in a church choir, but it was in the dancehalls where he heard the music that made his spirits soar most. At thirteen, he’d sneak out of the house to hear sound-systems like Bass Odyysey, Star Force and Stone Love, and thrill to the sound of Bounty Killer’s stentorian voice booming out of the speakers. Later .. being named Busy by a friend who marvelled at his eagerness to be everywhere at once, he gained a little studio experience by voicing dubplates for Kilimanjaro and Renaissance. It was at that stage he learnt about voice projection, breath control, timing and all the other skills that would one day bring him international recognition, although it was Bounty Killer who first introduced him to dancehall crowds in Jamaica, by inviting him on stage, and giving him the royal stamp of approval. Busy’s debut tune, “Shake It Fast”, was shared with a singer called Kenny and voiced over Renaissance’s Tunda Clap rhythm. This was in 2004, and songs for Fire Linx, Blaxx, Legends, Stainless, Yellow Moon and Black Chiney, among others, soon followed. “It’s All Because Of You”, with Tami Chyn, and Step Out, produced by Gravi T, then provided him with breakthrough hits in 2005, together with another Renaissance side, “Not Going Down”. By now, it was already apparent that Busy was an outstanding prospect. “Born and Grow” was the first of his striking ghetto narratives, and his live act began attracting widespread acclaim as he made show-stealing appearances at all the major Jamaican stage shows, including the Smirnoff Experience, Island Explosion, Camp Fire, West Kingston Jamboree, Sting and Reggae Sumfest 2006, where he performed solo on Dancehall Night and was also called up by G Unit on International Night. Greensleeves released Busy’s debut album, Step Out, that same year. Warmly welcomed by fans and media alike, it featured hits like “Born And Grow” and “Not Going Down”, and guest appearances from Bounty Killer, Alaine, Kris Kelly and Mavado, who traded lyrics with Busy on the gangster tunes “Badman Place” and “Full Clip”. It was an auspicious beginning, and also heralded the initiation of Busy’s own label, Network Records, and his debut as a producer (on the title track and “Where I’m From”.) With the album still flying out the stores, Busy continued voicing apace, and for younger, progressive producers like Don Corleon, H20, Arif Cooper, Fresh Ear (Up Into The Club), Stephen McGregor (Power Cut) and Stephen “Lenky” Marsden. Their releases – together with Busy’s teardown combination with Papoose on K. Salaam & Beatnick’s Whose World Is This? project – proved influential in Busy being crowned as the most exciting and creative dancehall artist of his generation, but it’s the new album that represents this next, crucial stage of Busy Signal’s development best of all, and that’ll spread his talent far and wide, way beyond the confines of his original audience.

Beres started building his home studio in the early '90s, before it became the trend among successful reggae artists to take over their own production duties. But his spontaneous method of composing, and his unwillingness to compromise, made a home studio the natural choice. Although the trend of self-production as a whole has at times diluted the quality of music coming from isolated individuals poking at computer keyboards, Beres' little music room attracts a steady stream of Jamaica's most talented musicians. "The room has a sound," he says of his simple but effective analog sound lab. "Some of them say it reminds them of the old days at Channel One." Ace session bands like the Roots Radics, drummers like Sly Dunbar, hornsmen like Dean Fraser, and a variety of talented singers and deejays, both veterans and up-and-comers all come to "hold a joy," play a game of Ludi, share a smoke and a laugh, and to make music together. "When they go into my studio they don't want to come out," Beres explains with humorous understatement. But he knows all too well that the survival of classical reggae music depends on such oases of creativity. "We a try bring back the golden days of the seventies, when reggae had the live drum and horn sections." For a man who finds this fusion of the arts and science so ear-resistible, it's no wonder that for him ...

*UDATE: Janisa's single " Big Up" has recently been added to the Heineken World Chart Show/ Caribbean Special hosted by DJ PJ Butta! The two-hour World Chart with PJ Butta Radio Express Urban World Chart features the Top 20 Hip-Hop, R&B and Soul hits in heavy rotation around the globe and presents exclusive interviews with top artists, music news and some tasty Old School hits. The show premieres on Jamaica Fame FM Monday August 18, 2008, 10pm-12am. For a complete air schedule visit www.myspace.com/janisa11

Congratulations Janisa!