Hometown Sound: Tippa Irie & Solo Banton, Glasgow

Tippa Irie biography

Tippa Irie (real name Anthony Henry) is a British reggae singer and DJ from Brixton, London, UK. He first came to prominence in the early eighties as an MC on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International. That has been at the forefront of the U.K. reggae dancehall scene for the past 25 years and helped launch the careers of artists such as Maxi Priest, Papa Levi and Smiley Culture. To this day, Tippa Irie remains one of the most requested Reggae entertainers internationally. The surviving members of Sublime made sure their Long Beach Dub All Stars debut for Dreamworks Records had the necessary dancehall credentials by commissioning Tippa Irie to contribute "Sensi" on their 'Right Back'(1999) CD and be their special guest on their subsequent North American tour. In 2000 he was invited to support UB40 on their sold-out Labour of Love III UK tour. Later Tippa was called back in the studio with Long Beach Dub All Stars to record "Life Goes On" featuring Half Pint and Jurassic Five's Charli2na on LBDA's 'Wonders of the World'(2001) CD for Dreamworks Records. Impressed with Tippa's rapid-fire lyrical arsensal, Jurassic Five asked Tippa to record together and the end result was a wicked Tippa and Charli2na combination entitled "The Struggle". The rap world took notice and soon enough Tippa was once again summoned to record with some of the music industry's biggest stars. Most recently Tippa was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rap Song category for his collaboration with Black Eyed Peas Will-I-Am on "Hey Mama", a track featured on the international chartbusting 'Elephunk'(2004) CD on A&M/Interscope Records.

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