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ANDREW DIAMOND
Andrew Diamond
was born in Stanford, California
and grew up in the San Francisco
Bay Area. He started his musical
career with a drum set that was
given to him as a Christmas
present when he was ten years
old. He played in school bands
and by the time he was thirteen
knew that he wanted to make a
career of music. It was about
this time that, while listening
to the college radio station
KZSU, Andrew Diamond first heard
reggae music. He was instantly
captivated and started playing
reggae.
In 1992 Andrew Diamond did two
tours with The Native Sons of
Portland, Oregon. They toured
Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Montana
and Colorado. In 1993 Andrew
joined the San Diego California
band, The Cardiff Reefers.
Andrew spent two years with the
Cardiff Reefers touring and
recording before he left the
group to study recording studio
engineering. In 1995 Andrew
Diamond toured with Jamaican
reggae artists The Itals. His
friendship with Itals singer
David Isaacs prompted Andrew to
visit Jamaica for the first
time. In Jamaica Andrew started
recording with many of
Kingston’s notable studio
musicians including; guitarist
Dwight Pinkney, percussionist
Bongo Herman, and singer Winston
Jarrett. |
In 2000 Andrew Diamond invited Winston Jarrett to
come to the US for the first time to tour and perform at the
Sierra Nevada Music Festival. Andrew Diamond started The Solid
Foundation Band to back Winston Jarrett on this tour. With the
success of the Winston Jarrett performances The Solid Foundation
Band continued to tour with other Jamaican artists including;
Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Everton Blender, and Richie Spice. In
2002 Prezident Brown asked The Solid Foundation Band to be his
backing band.
In 2004 Andrew Diamond moved to Jamaica. He was the Resident
Engineer at Geejam Studios in Port Antonio, he also started to
write and record songs for his debut album, “Diamond in the
Rough”. After two years in Jamaica Andrew moved to Washington DC
and released, “Diamond in the Rough” on his own SUB80 Record
label. He turned the drummer’s chair in The Solid Foundation
Band over to one of Burning Spear’s drummers, Nelson Miller, and
stepped to the front of the stage as a singer. In 2007 Andrew
Diamond performed with Prezident Brown on four US tours and his
album, “Diamond in the Rough” won the Top 10 Reggae Albums of
2007 Award from 1.FM ReggaeTrade Radio.
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