Barrington Levy

Barrington Levy spent much of his youth in Clarendon, where he is said to have developed his signature vocal style by experimenting with vocalizations that echoed off the surrounding hills. In 1977, still a teenager, he formed the group Mighty Multitude with his cousin Everton Dacres and released the single "My Black Girl."

Levy released four albums before 1980, including Shaolin Temple, Bounty Hunter, Shine Eye Gal, and Englishman, at a time when singles rather than albums were the primary format for Jamaican artists. His warm, distinctive tenor and rhythmic phrasing set him apart from contemporaries and made his early-1980s recordings, produced largely by Henry "Junjo" Lawes with the Roots Radics band, foundational documents of the emerging dancehall sound.

In 1983, "Under Mi Sensi" became a substantial hit in the United Kingdom, spending weeks on the UK charts and establishing Levy as one of the first dancehall-era artists to break through internationally. Songs including "Here I Come" further cemented his reputation, and his catalogue has since been sampled and referenced widely, including by acts such as the Black Eyed Peas.

Levy has remained an active recording and touring artist for more than four decades, collaborating with artists across reggae, dancehall, and hip-hop, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential vocalists to emerge from the early dancehall era.