Alberto D'Ascola (; born 4 July 1977), better known by his stage name Alborosie, is an Italian

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

artist. He is sometimes called the "Italian Reggae Ambassador".

Music career

Early life (2001–2005)

Born Alberto d’Ascola and raised in

Marsala Marsala (, ; ) is an Italian comune located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth largest in Sicily.The town is famous for the docking of Giuseppe Garibal ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, but now residing in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

, he is a multi-instrumentalist, being proficient in guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. His musical career began in the Italian reggae band , from

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

city, when he was 15 years old in 1993, in which he was known as Stena. In 2001, Alborosie decided to try a solo career. He moved to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

to be close to reggae music's roots and

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

culture. There, he started working as a sound engineer and producer. He has also worked with artists like

Gentleman ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...

and Ky-Mani Marley. His first solo album was called ''Soul Pirate''. In the summer of 2009, he released his second album which was called ''Escape from Babylon''. In August 2008, Alborosie played at the Uppsala Reggae Festival. The name "Alborosie" comes from a name he was given in the early years after moving to Jamaica. "Borosie was what they used to call me. Let me put it like this. My early experience in Jamaica was... not nice. Borosie was a name they used to call me and it has a negative meaning. So I said, "I'm gonna use this name and mash up the place, turn a negative into a positive thing!". Basically my name is Albert so I add 'Al', Al-borosie. But I'm not gonna tell you what borosie mean!"

''Soul Pirate'' & ''Escape From Babylon '' (2006–2009)

In 2006, Alborosie released his debut album, ''Soul Pirate'', which included hit singles: "Rastafari Anthem", "Kingston Town", and "Call Up Jah" on his own record label, Forward Recordings. Alborosie live6

He released his second album, ''Escape From Babylon'' in 2009 on Greensleeves Records. Through the years he has given concerts all round the world, including most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and Jamaica. He also released a compilation, ''Escape from Babylon to the Kingdom of Zion'' on Greensleeves Records in 2010.

''Dub Clash'', ''2 Times Revolution'', & ''Sound The System'' (2010–2013)

After releasing his first Dub music album, ''Dub Clash'' in 2010 and his third album, ''2 Times Revolution'', Alborosie became the first white artist to win the M.O.B.O. (Music of Black Origin) Awards in the Best Reggae Act category for 2011.Alborosie debuts on Billboard
", ''

Jamaica Observer The ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by ...

'', 4 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014 Alborosie released his fourth album, ''Sound The System'' on Greensleeves Records in 2013. He followed it up with a

dub music Dub is a musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae, p.&nb ...

version with, ''Dub the System'' in 2013 on Greensleeves Records. He released ''Sound the System Showcase'' in 2014, a compilation album.

''Collaborations & Re-masters'' (2014–2015)

Alborosie released a dub album he collaborated with King Jammy called, ''Dub of Thrones – With King Jammy'' in 2013 on VP Records. In 2014, Greensleeves Records released, ''Specialist Presents Alborosie & Friends'', a collection of collaborations with other reggae artists. The album entered the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top Reggae Albums chart at #7. Alborosie collaborated with King Jammy on another dub album, ''Reality of Dub'', which was released in early 2015. In 2015, his classic debut album ''Soul Pirate'', which was released by Evolution Music Group, was re-mastered and released in Deluxe Remastered Edition with 4 never-before-released bonus tracks: "Call Up Jah", "Slambam", "Streets", and "Jamaica".

''Freedom & Fyah'' & ''The Rockers'' (2016)

In May 2016, Alborosie's fifth album ''Freedom & Fyah'' was released on VP records. In the end of 2016, Evolution Music Group released his classic album ''Soul Pirate'' in an acoustic version. The album was released on CD and CD+DVD formats. He also released his sixth studio album, ''The Rockers'' on August 24, 2016. He also released another dub album, ''Freedom in Dub'' on VP Records in 2017.

Collaborations with The Wailers and Roots Radics (2016–2019)

His 2018 seventh studio album, ''Unbreakable: Alborosie Meets The Wailers United'' peaked at #6 on the ''

'' Reggae Albums chart. Alborosie collaborated with Roots Radics on the 2019 album ''Alborosie Meets the Roots Radics: Dub for the Radicals''.

''For The Culture'' (2021)

On June 4, 2021, Alborosie released his eighth studio album, titled ''In The Culture''. It features fourteen tracks that were written, produced, and performed in the during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

using vintage analogue gear, dub sirens, reel-to-reel tape, and live instrumentation by Alborosie and the Roots Radics band. Special guest performers Alborosie collaborated with were Collie Buddz, Jo Mersa Marley, Quino of Big Mountain, and The Wailing Souls, which Alborosie produced the duo's latest album ''Back-A-Yard''. In December 2021, Alborosie was nominated for the fans-choice "2021 Album of the Year" award by '' Surf Roots TV & Radio'' for their album ''For The Culture''. Voting was determined by

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

users. This was the band's first time being nominated with the reggae rock streaming TV channel on Amazon Fire TV,

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

, and

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of consumer electronics that includes streaming players, smart TVs (and their operating systems), as well as a free TV streaming service. The brand is owned by Roku, Inc., an American company. As of 2024, Roku is the U ...

Personal life

Alberto D'Ascola was born on 4 July 1977 in Marsala, Sicily, Italy. His father is a retired policeman and his mother was a housewife. D'Ascola developed an interest in

music and joined the band Reggae National Tickets in 1992 (at the age of 15.) He is a dual citizen of both Italy and Jamaica.

Discography

Solo studio albums

Dub albums

Re-edition albums

With Reggae National Tickets

*''Squali'' (1996) *''Un affare difficile'' (1997) *''Lascia un po' di te'' (1998) *''La Isla'' (1999) *''Roof Club'' (2000)

Produced by Alborosie

*''Alborosie presents His Majesty Riddim'' (2016), VP

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Facebook pageBBC Music profileDiscography at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alborosie 1977 births Living people People from Marsala Jamaican reggae musicians Italian emigrants to Jamaica Jamaican Rastafarians Italian Rastafarians Converts to the Rastafari movement Jamaican people of Italian descent 21st-century Italian male singers VP Records artists Greensleeves Records artists