Buju Banton

Mark Anthony Myrie (born 15 July 1973), known professionally as Buju Banton, is a Jamaican reggae dancehall musician.

He is one of the most significant and well-regarded artists in Jamaican music.

Banton has collaborated with many international artists, including those in the hip hop, Latin and punk rock genres, as well as the sons of Bob Marley.

In 1986, he was introduced to producer Robert Ffrench by fellow deejay Clement Irie, and his first single, "The Ruler" was released not long afterward in 1987.

This led to recording sessions with producers such as Patrick Roberts, Bunny Lee, Winston Riley, and Digital B.

Banton released a number of dancehall singles as early as 1987 but came to prominence in 1992 with two albums, Stamina Daddy and Mr. Mention, the latter becoming the best-selling album in Jamaican history upon its release.

That year he also broke the record for No. 1 singles in Jamaica, previously held by Bob Marley and the Wailers.

By the mid-1990s, Banton's music became more influenced by his Rastafari faith, as heard on the seminal albums 'Til Shiloh and Inna Heights.

In 1991, Banton joined Donovan Germain's Penthouse Records label and began a fruitful partnership with producer Dave Kelly who later launched his own "Madhouse Records" label.

Banton is one of the most popular musicians in Jamaican history, having major chart success in 1992, with "Bogle" and "Love me Browning", both massive hits in Jamaica.

Controversy erupted over "Love Me Browning" which spoke of Banton's penchant for lighter-skinned black women: "Mi love my car mi love my bike mi love mi money and ting, but most of all mi love mi browning."

Some accused Banton of denigrating the beauty of darker-skinned black women.

In response, he released "Love Black Woman", which spoke of his love for dark-skinned beauties: "Mi nuh Stop cry, fi all black women, respect all the girls dem with dark complexion".

1992 was an explosive year for Banton as he broke Bob Marley's record for the greatest number of #1 singles in a year.

Banton's gruff voice dominated the Jamaican airwaves for the duration of the year.

His debut album, Mr. Mention, includes many of his greatest hits from that year including "Bonafide Love" featuring Wayne Wonder, the singer who first brought Banton out as a guest star on the annual Jamaican stage show Sting.

1992 also saw the unsanctioned re-release of "Boom Bye Bye", a controversial song recorded several years earlier in 1988 when the artist was 15 years old, which resulted in a backlash that threatened to destroy his career.

Several years later, the song would later become the subject of outrage in the United States and Europe, leading to Banton being dropped from the line-up of the WOMAD festival as well as numerous other scheduled performances.

Banton subsequently issued a public apology.

He signed with the major label Mercury Records and released Voice of Jamaica in 1993.

Now on the major Mercury/PolyGram label, Banton released the hard-hitting Voice of Jamaica in 1993.

The album included a number of conscious tracks.

These tracks included "Deportees", a song which criticises those Jamaicans who went abroad but never sent money home; "Tribal War" a collaboration with Tony Rebel, Brian & Tony Gold, and Terry Ganzie, a sharp condemnation of political violence that interpolates Little Roy's classic reggae song of the same name; and "Willy, Don't Be Silly", which promotes safe sex and the use of contraceptives, particularly the condom, profits from which were donated to a charity supporting children with AIDS.

Banton was invited to meet Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, and won several awards that year at the Caribbean Music Awards and the Canadian Music Awards.

Some of Banton's lyrics dealt with violent themes, which he explained as reflecting the images that young Jamaicans were presented with by the news media.

The reality of Kingston's violence was brought home in 1993 by the murders in separate incidents of three of his friends and fellow recording artists, the deejays Pan Head and Dirtsman and singer Mickey Simpson.

In 2009, he was arrested for cocaine trafficking charges in the United States, his first trial resulting in a hung jury.

His 2010 album Before the Dawn won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

In 2011, he was convicted on the aforementioned criminal charge and was imprisoned in the U.S. until December 2018, whereupon he was released, and deported home to Jamaica.

Buju Banton was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in an area known as Barbican Road, Kingston 8.

Buju is a nickname given to him by his mother as a child.

Banton is a Jamaican word that refers to someone who is a respected storyteller, and it was adopted by Myrie in tribute to the deejay Burro Banton, whom he admired as a child.

Buju emulated Burro's rough vocals and forceful delivery, developing his own distinctive style.

Buju's mother was a higgler, or street vendor, while his father worked as a labourer at a tile factory.

He was the youngest of fifteen children born into a family that was directly descended from the Maroons of Jamaica.

He is the uncle of singer, Sean Kingston.

Banton has homes in Jamaica and Tamarac, Florida (United States).

He also has 17 children.

As a youngster, Banton would often watch his favourite artists perform at outdoor shows and local dancehalls in Denham Town.

At the age of 12, he picked up the microphone for himself and began toasting under the moniker of Gargamel, working with the Sweet Love and Rambo Mango sound systems.