Gyptian

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GYPTIAN & ETANA - TOURING NORTH AMERICA - MAY / JUNE 2011

Kings Music International is currently booking a May 2011 tour package with Gyptian and Etana. Gyptian is the man who gave us the number one song on the billboard top 100 charts – Hold You. Hold You was also the number one song on digital I Tunes, and has crossed over to mainstream radio where teenagers all over the world are listening to and embracing Gyptian.

Etana has also been coming up real strong. Her new CD is called Free Expression. Her release before that is called Strong One. Etana has also won many artist awards and she is currently a top artist in Jamaica.

October 20th, 2010 Gyptian won the MOBO award for “Best Reggae Artist of the Year”. He received his trophy for the 2010 MOBO Award live during the ceremony at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Gyptian took the stage to accept his prestigious award in front of a packed house and over 250 million viewers on TV worldwide. In November 2010 he then went on to win 'Best Reggae Artist' at this year's Soul Train Awards. Gyptian's singles Hold You and Nah Let Go and the respective videos have been receiving steady airplay ever since the release of his album, Hold You, in July 2010.

Gyptian is currently one of the most sought after artists in the reggae business. His manager is now being overwhelmed with offers and inquiries for Gyptian from all over the world, and his schedule is booked up every week giving him little time to rest.

The co billing artist with Gyptian on this May tour is Etana, the strong female sensation dominating the airwaves and stage shows in Jamaica. Etana is is young and bright, with a powerful voice and good songs. She is very popular. In 2010 she won every single female artist award in Jamaica - best singer of the year, best album of the year, etc. - six awards. Fresh and gifted, this twenty five year old spirited and soulful singer/ songwriter is now loved and accepted by the people in Jamaica and abroad. This tour features two of the most popular younger reggae artists in the world.

After an initial audition with Fifth Element Records, the recording and Management Company behind Richie Spice and Chuck Fender, Etana was asked to tour with Richie Spice as a background vocalist. Touring Europe and North America with Spice helped work her in, giving her experience on the stage working in front of the people.

After being loved and appreciated on the road, Etana’s debut single from the recording studio, Wrong Address, released in 2006, quickly caught interest in the reggae world. The song struck a resounding chord with reggae listeners, and still receives heavy radio rotation to this day. Fifth Element Records, behind the hit single Wrong Address, continued to help Etana produce a string of hit singles that have been riding hard and strong on the charts. Etana has a passion for the music, and she approaches her craft with a sense of maturity and respect. Etana is rising fast.

Saturday, February 21st 2009, Etana performed on the Ragga Muffins Festival at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach California and she was brought back again this year in 2011. People were excited and enthusiastic to see her. She was one of the stronger artists on the festival. Etana won awards for the Best Female Vocalist and Best Album at the 2010 International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) held in New York. Etana released videos for the songs Blessings, which features Italian-born Rastafarian reggae crooner, Alborosie, and Caltariba System, both from her debut VP Records album, The Strong One. In 2006 Gyptian gave us the mega hit Serious Times. Serious Times popularity led to Gyptian’s performing on most of the major stage shows in Jamaica, as well as many international festivals. Gyptian currently has two songs in rotation on radio with his breakout hit Hold You and his new smash Nah Let Go, both singles from his current album, Hold You, released by VP Records in July 2010. With a solid foundation and fan base, this versatile entertainer now sees his international acclaim grow, and has already seen collaborations with the likes of Nicki Minaj, Busta Rhymes and Mary J. Blige, and will be joining Blige for her UK tour on November 2-3 in England.

In his music career, Gyptian cut right through, quickly. He was embraced by the people of the world right from the start, without having to struggle long for acceptance. He gets a great deal of love from the media and the public. His message has mass appeal. Hold You is currently hot, ringing out all over the world.

Gyptian comes with charisma, and he has a sound that makes for pleasant listening music. The women go crazy over him. They know his songs, singing along with him, word for word. His popularity cuts across the age groups. He is embraced by the young and old, and by the die-hard reggae enthusiasts and especially the females who he now has in a frenzy. Straight away as a new artist, Gyptian won awards for Best New Reggae Artist and Most Promising Entertainer, amongst others. Worldwide, the DJ’s are currently playing a lot of Gyptian songs. On his live stage shows, the females can’t help themselves as they try to rush up onto the stage.

Gyptian and Etana are both hot.

Gyptian is currently one of the most sought after young recording artists in the reggae business. His manager is now being overwhelmed with offers and inquiries for Gyptian from all over the world. Gyptian is the singer who gave us the mega hit Serious Times in 2006. His I Can Feel your Pain ringtone is on my wife’s cell phone.

Serious Times popularity led to Gyptian’s performing on most of the major stage shows in Jamaica, as well as many international festivals. Gyptian’s CD’s continue to sell well and this July tour is sure to have the houses rocking, non-stop. Gyptian also has a new CD scheduled for release in August 2010.

As a young artist, Gyptian continues to show a lot of promise. His first CD called My Name is Gyptian was released on VP Records in 2006. His second VP release is called I Can Feel Your Pain. Besides Serious Times, other of his hit songs are Beng Beng, School Girl, Ma Ma, Beautiful Lady, Nobody No Cry, Too Bad Mind, Keep Your Calm and Touch.

Recently the song Hold Yuh has been creating waves locally and internationally.

It is currently number one on digital I Tunes up to this date – April 21st, 2010, and it is number 52 on the billboard top 100 charts. To the song Hold Yuh a duet has been released with the hot new hip hop artist Nicki Minaj.

Gyptian, in his music career, cut right through, quickly. He was embraced by the people of the world right from the start, without having to struggle long for acceptance. He gets a great deal of love from the media and the public. His message has mass appeal. Gyptian comes with charisma, conscious and uplifting, and he has a sound that makes for pleasant listening music. His popularity cuts across the age groups. He is embraced by the young and old, and by the die-hard reggae enthusiasts and especially the females. Straight away, Gyptian won awards for Best New Reggae Artist and Most Promising Entertainer, amongst others. Worldwide, the DJ’s are currently playing a lot of Gyptian songs, and the women and younger girls love his music singing along with him, knowing his lyrics by heart.

Gyptian’s last western U.S. tour in October 2009 was a great success with him touring alongside of Warrior King. There is currently great anticipation for his western U.S. fans to see Gyptian perform live again this July 2010, 8 months since his last western U.S. tour. Some of his last shows, such as the Shatto Ballroom in Los Angeles caused roadblocks, or traffic jams due to the people’s excitement and his strong draw. Gyptian is hot.

Few people had heard of Gyptian prior the 2005 release of his mega hit Serious Times, but the song’s meditative drumming by renowned percussionist Bongo Herman, melodious sax lines courtesy of Tony Greene and especially Gyptian’s heartfelt vocals detailing worsening crime in Jamaica made it one of the biggest reggae hits of 2005/2006. Serious Times went on to top all major Jamaican and international reggae charts. Vibe Magazine ranked it number 21 among the top 60 songs of 2006 and Gyptian was nominated as Best New Reggae Artist and named the Most Promising Entertainer at the 2006 International Reggae and World Music Awards held at New York City’s legendary Apollo Theater. At home, Gyptian was cited as the Best New Artist of 2005 by the Jamaica Observer newspaper, and Serious Times tied with Damian Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock for the daily’s Song of the Year honors.

“A lot of people said I would be a one hit wonder, but I never thought that,” Gyptian reflected on his sudden rise to success. “I never go into the studio and tell myself that I will get a number one song. I love every song that I sing, but it’s the people who judge them and make them hits.” Gyptian quickly dismissed any notions of impending one hit wonder status by following his impressive introductory single with several equally compelling tunes including Beng Beng, which calls for peace in Jamaica, School Girl, urging young girls to pay attention to their education and Ma Ma, a tender tribute to his mother’s love. Another hit Beautiful Lady wryly tells the tale of a brief romantic encounter; throughout the song’s irresistible refrain, the lady asks him his name and his response was adapted for the title of his debut album, My Name is Gyptian, which was released on VP Records in 2006 to widespread critical commendation and subsequently received a nomination from Playboy Magazine as best New World Music Album.

Gyptian surpasses the standards established on his remarkable debut with his inspiring sophomore effort I Can Feel Your Pain. From the unforgettably beautiful title track (the CD’s first single) which he wrote as a balm to broken hearted ladies everywhere to the roots rock reggae sufferers anthem Nobody No Cry, from the acoustic guitar strains underscoring an antiviolence message on Keep Your Calm to the soft rock riffs that tint the quixotic Touch, Pain’s thirteen songs offer sophisticated yet straight from the heart lyrics with Gyptian’s pliant tenor, easily adapting to a range of styles. “With music you can’t just stick to one sound, you have to pick and choose to satisfy the largest fan base,” he says. “Some people love the cultural side of Gyptian but for the girls it’s all about lovers rock, because everybody needs love and everyone needs to share love and I am fortunate that I can share it on this CD.”

Born Windel Beneto Edwards on October 25, 1983, Gyptian was raised in the rural King Weston district in the parish of St. Andrew by his Christian mother Pauline and his Rastafarian father, Basil. Neither parent attempted to dictate their son’s spiritual path, but both encouraged his musical talent; thus Gyptian sang at his mother’s Sunday morning church services and at the Saturday night dances promoted by his father who owned the Sugar Stone sound system.

Gyptian, who earned his nickname for his habit of wrapping shirts around his head in the style of an Egyptian pharaoh, continued to sharpen his vocal skills at small concerts within the greater St. Andrew vicinity. His musical ambitions brought him to reggae’s epicenter, Kingston, where he was introduced to legendary guitarist/producer Earl “Chinna” Smith whose stellar resume includes an extended stint as musical director for Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. “Chinna was the first real producer I worked with,” notes Gyptian. “He has a great understanding of music and it was great working with him.” Together they created a version of Serious Times in 1999, which was never released.

Gyptian returned to King Weston and took some time away from music but before long, he was referred to a studio owned by producer/talent scout Ravin Wong, located in the Kingston suburb of Portmore. Wong had established a track record of helping to transform aspirants such as Portmore based I Wayne into hit making artists. Under Wong’s guidance Gyptian began performing at various stage shows and talent contests. He won the 2004 Portmore Star Search competition, which earned him a spot at that year’s staging of Sting, Jamaica’s premier dancehall concert which is renowned for attracting an audience that, when warranted, boldly expresses their displeasure with an artist’s performance first through “wipers” (a hand signal to artists to exit the stage), then booing and in extreme cases, bottling, that is, throwing bottles, cups or other objects at an unwanted act. So how did a newcomer to the reggae business feel about performing for such a tough crowd? “To be frank, I wondered what I was doing there,” Gyptian laughed. “It was difficult. I knew a wouldn’t get a forward (rousing response) from the crowd but from a long time music is what me love so me just struggle through it.”

A few months later, Gyptian was working a construction job when Portmore producer Kenneth 'Spragga' Wilson asked him to take a day off to voice Serious Time. Gyptian was never paid for that session because Spragga funds were depleted by the cost of the studio time, but the song’s subsequent popularity, which led to Gyptian’s inclusion on all major stage shows in Jamaica as well as many international reggae festivals, more than made up for it.

Gyptian plans to transcend the success reaped by Serious Time and his debut album with I Can Feel Your Pain. His spectacular sophomore effort begins with Keep Your Calm, a warning to the rude boys to put down their guns and aspire to greater things, produced by Kemar “DJ FLava” McGregor. DJ Flava, who produced Gyptian’s 2006 hit Ma Ma and is one of the leading producers in contemporary roots reggae, contributes several songs here including the cautionary one drop tune Too Bad Mind, the evocative drum and bass driven plea for More Love, and Guide Me, a prayer for spiritual strength underscored by a stirring Nyabinghi drum beat.

Gyptian’s romantic vocals captivate throughout the soulful, new age-influenced ballads Touch and Love Against The Wall, produced by New York based John FX Crawford. Hauntingly somber tones color World Caving In produced by Imran “Fire Peter” Passard and FX for the Humbless Music Group, with Gyptian’s emotive falsetto flourish reflecting a major shift in his lifestyle, as he explains: “That song is based on the fact that I am a little more settled now in my personal life and the things I used to do before, for better or worse, I don’t do them no more because this particular woman I am with satisfies all my wants and desires.”

Music fans wants and desires will undoubtedly be satisfied by the poignant singing, pensive words and audacious musical approaches that are not typically found on CDs coming out of Kingston, which characterize I Can Feel Your Pain. These innovative strategies, Gyptian believes, will help to revitalize record sales for and worldwide interest in contemporary Jamaican music. “What I really want to do is bring back the market,” Gyptian declares, “because from Bob Marley days no reggae artist really go out and sell a million copies. So I am trying to bring back life to reggae music because Bob Marley was just a man like me, so I use him as a landmark for what I am trying to achieve.