Frogtoon Music

Inna Marley Stylee (Album) by Max Romeo

Artist Biography For Max Romeo

Max Romeo Born Maxwell Livingston Smith 22 November 1947 St. D'Acre St. Ann Jamaica Is A Reggae And Roots Reggae Recording Artist Who Has Achieved Chart Success In His Home Country And In The UK. The Singer Who Put The Rude In Rude Boy Max Romeo Was Responsible For Launching An Entirely New Sub-Genre Of Reggae Whose Overtly Suggestive Lyrics Caused An Outcry But Took A Massive Hold Of The Music Scene Regardless. Yet Innuendo Was The Least Of The Singer's Stylings Previous To The Release Of His Infamous "Wet Dream " Romeo Had Garnered A String Of Sweet Hits With The Vocal Trio The Emotions. And Once The Nocturnal Naughtiness Faded The Singer Established Himself As One Of The Most Important Figures In The Roots Scene.
He Left Home At The Age Of 14 And Worked On A Sugar Plantation Outside Clarendon Cleaning Out Irrigation Ditches Before Winning A Local Talent Competition When He Was 18 Prompting A Move To The Capital Kingston In Order To Achieve A Successful Musical Career. In 1965 He Joined Up With Kenneth Knight And Lloyd Shakespeare In The Emotions Whilst Also Working As A Record Plugger For Ken Lack's Caltone Label. The Group Were Unsuccessful In Auditions For Other Producers But Lack Offered Them An Audition After Overhearing Smith Singing To Himself As He Worked One Day. In 1966 The Group Had Their First Hit With The Lack-Produced "Buy You A Rainbow". The Emotions Went On To Have Several Hit Singles And By 1968 The Singer By This Point Known As Max Romeo Felt Confident Enough To Launch A Solo Career. Working With Producer Bunny Lee The Young Star Recorded A Number Of Pop Songs Mainly Love Ballads But They Failed To Be Popular And So He Returned To The Emotions Now Recording For Phil Pratt. During This Time He Began Work As A Sales Representative For Bunny Lee And Did Some Recording With The Hippy Boys Which Would Later Became The Upsetters. Later On In 1968 Romeo Wrote New Lyrics For The Rhythm Track Of Derrick Morgan's "Hold You Jack" And Handed Them Over To Lee. Morgan Who Was Due To Add His Vocals To The Track Ultimately Gave It A Miss As Did Several Other Vocalists Including John Holt And Slim Smith Leading The Producer To Turn To Romeo To Sing The Lyrics He Had Written. The Result "Wet Dream" Was An Instant Hit In Jamaica Although In The UK It Was Met With A BBC Radio Ban Despite Romeo's Somewhat-Disingenuous Claim That The Song Was Actually About A Roof That Has A Leak. Still The Ban Only Made It More Popular And The Single Charted In The Top Ten In The UK Singles Chart Spending Almost Six Months Therein Before Featuring On His LP A Dream Which Included Several Follow-Up Singles In A Similar Vein Such As "Mini Skirt Version" "Fish In The Pot" "Belly Woman" And "Wine Her Goosie". A UK Tour Also Met With Romeo Being Banned From Performing At Several Venues Although Many Allowed Him To Play The Singer Staying In The UK For Eighteen Months. In 1970 Romeo Returned To Jamaica And Set-Up Romax An Unsuccessful Record Label And Sound System. Following Which He Recorded Several Singles Mainly With Old Producer Bunny Lee Before Going On To Work A Host Of Other Producers Including Niney Holness. This Was Followed By A Period Of Which Saw The Release Of A Series Of Politically Charged Singles Most Advocating The Democratic Socialist People's National Party PNP Which Chose His Song "Let The Power Fall On I" As Their Campaign Theme For The 1972 Jamaican General Election. Romeo Joined The PNP Musical Bandwagon Travelling Around Jamaica Playing On The Back Of A Truck. After This Romeo Recorded A Number Of Religious Songs Until He Worked With Producer Lee "Scratch" Perry Producing The Classic Singles "Three Blind Mice" An Adaptation Of The Nursery Rhyme With Lyrics About A Police Raid On A Party "Sipple Out Deh" And "Chase The Devil". A Remixed Version Of "Sipple Out Deh" Entitled "War Ina Babylon" Was Another Popular Track In The UK The First Fruits Of His Deal With Island Records And Was Followed By An Album Of The Same Name And A Follow-Up Single "One Step Forward". Shortly After This The Pair Fell Out Leaving Romeo To Self-Produce His Follow-Up Album Reconstruction Which Could Not Match The Success Of Its Predecessor. Perry's Animosity Towards Romeo Was Demonstrated By His Single "White Belly Rat" With Perry Also Writing The Word 'Judas' Over A Photograph Of Romeo On The Wall Of His Black Ark Studio. He Moved To New York City In 1978 Where He Co-Wrote With Hair Producer Michael Butler The Musical Reggae Which He Also Starred In. In 1980 He Appeared As A Backing Vocalist On "Dance" On The Rolling Stones Album Emotional Rescue. In 1981 The Favour Was Returned When Keith Richards Of The Rolling Stones Co-Produced And Played On Romeo's Album Holding Out My Love To You. The Rest Of His Output During The Decade Went Practically Unnoticed With Romeo Finding Work At A New York Electronics Store. He Returned To Jamaica In 1990 And Began Touring And Recording More Regularly. He Visited The UK Again In 1992 Recording The Albums Far I Captain Of My Ship And Our Rights With Jah Shaka. In 1995 He Recorded Cross Of The Gun With Tappa Zukie And He Joined Up With UK Rhythm Section/production Team Mafia & Fluxy In 1999 For The Album Selassie I Forever. His Music Has Been Sampled By Other Artists The Prodigy Sampled His Track "Chase The Devil" For Their 1992 UK Top Ten Hit "Out Of Space". Kanye West Has Also Used Samples From It To Produce Jay-Z's Hit Song "Lucifer" Which Appeared On Jay-Z's 2003 Release - The Black Album. "Chase The Devil" Is Featured On The Reggae Radio Station K-JAH Radio West In A Popular Videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Released In October 2004. Romeo's Single "Sipple Out Deh" Appeared In John Peel's Record Box. - Albums A Dream 1970 Trojan Let The Power Fall 1972 Dynamic Revelation Time 1975 Black World War Ina Babylon 1976 Island Reconstruction 1979 Island I Love My Music 1979 Wackies Rondos 1980 King Kong Holding Out My Love To You 1981 Shanachie Transition 1989 Rohit Fari - Captain Of My Ship 1992 Jah Shaka Our Rights 1992 Jah Shaka Cross Or The Gun 1995 Tappa Zukie Selassie I Forever 1999 Mafia & Fluxy Love Message 1999 Warriors Something Is Wrong 1999 Warriors In This Time 2001 3D Max Romeo & Tribu Acustica Pocomania Songs 2007 Ariwa Sounds - Compilations Max Romeo Meets Owen Gray At King Tubby's Studio 1984 Culture Press With Owen Gray Max Romeo And The Upsetters 1989 Wet Dream 1993 Crocodisc McCabee Version 1995 Sonic Sounds Open The Iron Gate 1999 Blood & Fire The Many Moods Of Max Romeo 1999 Jamaican Gold Pray For Me The Best Of Max Romeo 1967-73 2000 Trojan Records Perilous Times 2000 Charmax On The Beach 2001 Culture Press The Coming Of Jah 2002 Trojan Ultimate Collection 2003 Compiled By David Katz Holy Zion 2003 Burning Bush Wet Dream The Best Of Max Romeo 2004 Trojan Crazy World Of Dub 2005 Jamaican Recordings One Of Jamaica's Most Provocative Lyricists A Singer Who Gave Us Such Enduring Songs As 'Chase The Devil' Which Was Sampled In The Song 'Out Of Space' By The Prodigy And The Song 'Lucifer' By Jay-Z 'Public Enemy Number One' 'One Step Forward' And 'Three Blind Mice'. It Was Romeo Who First Introduced Britain To The Concept Of Rude Reggae With 'Wet Dream' Which Despite A Total Radio Ban Reached Number 10 In The UK Charts In May 1969.
In 1972 Romeo Began Working With Producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. 'Babylon Burning' 'Three Blind Mice' And 'The Coming Of Jah' All Maintained His Star Status In Jamaica Between 1972 And 1975. Revelation Time Was One Of The Best Albums Of 1975 And 1976's War Ina Babylon Was Hailed By The Rock Press As An All-Time Classic Reggae Album. Two Outstanding Contributions That Will Remain Classic Recordings From The So-Called ‘golden Age’ Of Jamaican Reggae Music.

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