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Famed Dancehall
toaster (dee-jay) known today as
Dennis Alcapone was born Dennis
Smith, on 6th of August 1947, in
Clarendon Jamaica, West Indies.
Alcapone, like
many young men in the 1960’s was
musically inspired by U-Roy;, he
became the frontsman toasting
for the sound system called El
Paso Hi-Fi in 1969. The sound
had a following and grew in
popularity gaining a reputation
for creating road blocks
whenever they played out.
Alcapone’s popularity and
success grew, getting the
attention of U-Roy.
Like U-Roy,
Alcapone also recorded tracks
for Keith Hudson, cutting more
than a dozen sides for the
producer in 1970-71 beginning
with 'Shades Of Hudson' (1970),
'Spanish Omega' (1970),
'Revelation Version'
(1970), and 'The Sky's The
Limit' (1970). and 'Macca
Version'. Dennis moved on to
Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label
and between 1970-72 he had
massive Jamaican hits with 'Wake
Up Jamaica', 'Teach The
Children', ‘Number One Station',
'Mosquito One', 'Rock To The
Beat', 'Love Is Not A
Gamble','The Great Woggie'
(1972), and 'Musical Alphabet'.
Before Alcapone
moved to England in 1973, he was
sought after and in demand.
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He made over 100 singles and
released three albums, for
Coxsone Dodd (Forever Version),
Bunny Lee (Guns Don’t Argue). He
also worked with other producers
like Lee Perry, Joe Gibbs,
Prince Buster, to name a few.
Alcapone’s popularity as a DJ
grew even further when he won a
reputable DJ competition in
Jamaica and rode the wave of
success to England. There the
competition proved to be stiffer
since the authentic Jamaican
dancehall and its DJ’s were ever
growing. So Dennis tried his
hand at self-producing, working
with the likes of Dennis Brown,
Augustus Pablo and Delroy
Wilson.
In
the mid to late 80’s while in
England, Dennis worked with the
renowned Mad Professor (Neil
Fraser) at Ariwa Dub Factory in
London, and began touring over
Europe, North America and The
Orient. During this time
Alcapone returned back to
Jamaica where he was victorious
in the Heineken Startime show
with his hit song 'Teach The
Children', which was
incorporated into part of
Jamaica’s literacy programme.
Dennis appeared at the Womad
Festival in Cornwall and
Helsinki 1969, and other venues
like the Summerjam reggae
festival in Germany.
Dennis Alcapone is worldly
recognized as a legendary
Jamaican deejay , famous for
originating the “sing-jay”
style; a cross between singing
and toasting, a style that is
half-sung and half-spoken. He is
also acknowledged for being the
first Jamaican deejay to emulate
notorious and infamous 'bad men'
of that era. This kind of
labeling is quite common among
the industry as a whole
nowadays.
Dennis Alcapone; a true pioneer
of the original Jamaican
dancehall scene.
- Bio courtesy of Afiwi.com
Listen to
Dennis Alcapone's Music
Al Capone Links:
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