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Book: The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae

Chapter: Barrington Levy and the birth of dancehall

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.25488

Blurb:

Barrington Levy was born in 1964 in Kingston, but grew up in Clarendon Parish. A
youthful music fan, he was especially fond of Dennis Brown, The Jackson Five and
Michael Jackson. He first made a record around 1975 in a short-lived group called
the Mighty Multitude that included a cousin of his. A year later, as a grizzled veteran
of two sides, at fourteen years of age he decided to go solo. He initially found success
as a sound system performer. He then recorded a handful of undistinguished
singles for various producers, sounding like the youth singer he was. Things took an
abrupt change for the better when he began recording for Henry “Junjo” Lawes.

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