Macka.B Information

Macka.B has always been interested in music. At a very young age he was impressed by the heavyweight sound system Lord Barley, playing in the blues party next door. The vibrant reggae beat found a place in his heart that remains there to this very day. At school he played the violin and he joined the school choir. At home he was getting inspiration from Reggae music, listening to such greats as Burning Spear, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Count Ossie, to name but a few. On leaving school he sought a career in engineering. He obtained a technical apprenticeship at Ever Ready, but redundancy due to factory closure ended that career, which proved to be a blessing in disguise. He started to practice D.J.ing at home gaining inspiration from legends such as U-Roy, I-Roy, Big Youth, Prince Far-I, etc. It was also at this time that Macka.B decided to accept the Ras Tafari faith, which is the central part of his life. He and some friends started a sound system called Exodus, which just happened to be the same sound that Macka.B used to listen to as a little youth. The sound was passed down from father to sons and renamed Exodus. In 1982 a visit to Jamaica inspired him greatly improving his talent. He entered a D. J. competition in 1983 at the Rising Star club in Bilston, (included were Pato Banton & Rankin Ann.) Macka.B. won and from this was invited on the radio several times, his name began to spread. He was also in a band called Pre-Wax, they did many live shows and also appeared on Channel 4s Rockers Road show. A record called Maggies Letter was also released by a producer called Papa P. It became a local success. Derek Nelson producer of Ebony BBC2, heard Macka.B perform on the radio, and as they had a show planned for Birmingham, asked him to perform on that show. He went down so well he received a regular spot on the next series. Macka.B never stopped working with sound systems Wassifa from Birmingham & Skippy & Lippy being the main ones. A tape of a dance Wassifa v Saxon Sound in Leicester, was heard by John & Chris ...