Massive Dread (born Dennis James; c. 1960, in
Trenchtown
Trench Town (also Trenchtown) is a neighbourhood located in the parish of St. Andrew, part of which is in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. In the 1960s, Trench Town was known as the Hollywood of Jamaica. Today Trench Town is t ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
– 1994) was a
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
deejay
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...
who first recorded in the late 1970s for
Tapper Zukie
Tapper Zukie (or Tappa Zukie) (born David Sinclair, 1955, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae deejay and producer.Greene, Jo-AnnTapper Zukie Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-02-15
Biography
Tapper was the nickname given to him by his grandmoth ...
,
[On the Wire – Radio Lancs: Dub Column – April 2007](_blank)
/ref> and came to prominence in the early 1980s, touring with Byron Lee
Byron Lee ,
''Jamaica Gleaner'', 27 October 2008.
and The Dragonaires.[Larkin, Colin: "The Virgin Encyclopedia Of Reggae", 1998, Virgin Books, ] Dread also worked on Peter Metro
Peter Metro (born Peter Clarke,Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter:"Reggae: The Rough Guide", 1997, Rough Guides, Kingston, Jamaica, c.1960) is a reggae deejay, who released five albums in the 1980s.Larkin, Colin:"The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", ...
's ''Metromedia'' sound system.
Biography
He introduced the "bubbling" style of delivery, which was well received by audiences at events such as Reggae Sunsplash
Reggae Sunsplash is a reggae music festival first staged in 1978 in the northern part of Jamaica. In 1985 it expanded with the addition of an international touring festival. The festival ran annually until 1996, with a final event in 1998, befo ...
,The Wailing Souls
The Wailing Souls (originally The Renegades) are a Jamaican reggae vocal group whose origins date back to the 1960s. The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years with Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Lloyd "Bread" McDonald the only c ...
' ''The Up Front Organization'' label, and produced by Tommy Cowan
Tommy Cowan CD (born Thomas Lincoln Cowan, 6 April 1946, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica) is a producer and singer, initially working in reggae but later concentrating on gospel, who has been involved in the music business since the 1960s.Brooks, Sade ...
's wife Velerie) capitalized on his popularity, including Jamaican chart-toppers such as "This Is Massive". Dread's links to The Wailing Souls saw him appear on a Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stud ...
documentary on reggae which was broadcast on '' The Tube'', featuring Dread performing wearing his riding hat - the 'jockey-ride' being a popular dance at the time in the Jamaican dancehalls.Ranking Dread
Ranking Dread (born Winston Brown; – 1996)Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall'', Greenwood Press, , p. 246.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2003) ''The Rough Guide to R ...
, appeared in 2006, although it features Tapper Zukie productions from the later 1970s/early 1980s.
In November 1993 Massive Dread, among others, started working on the Trenchtown Reading Centre - a community project designed to improve literacy and learning for the children of Trenchtown. The reading centre was completed in December and Massive Dread entertained at the opening as a deejay and selector.
In 1994 Massive Dread was shot and killed. Some allege it was for publicly speaking out against the JLP political authorities.
Album discography
* ''Massive Dread'' (1979, His Majesty)
* ''2 Dread Inna Babylon'' (2006, Silver Kamel) (split with Ranking Dread)
* ''Strictly...Bubbling'' (1982, The Up Front Organization)
* ''It's Massive'' (1984, The Up Front Organization)
References
External links
Massive Dread at Roots Archives
TrenchTown Reading Centre
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massive Dread
Jamaican reggae musicians
1960s births
1994 deaths
Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica