Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin, born Richard Patrick Bennett, is a Jamaican dancehall and ragga deejay who took his stage name from the silent-film comedian in his youth. He began his professional career in 1980, working with U-Roy's Stur-Gav Hi-Fi sound system, one of the era's most influential deejay training grounds. Wikipedia does not record an exact birth date for him.

Chaplin became known for lyrics grounded in cultural and social commentary at a time when much of dancehall was moving toward explicit 'slack' content, a contrast that gave him a distinct identity among his contemporaries. His live popularity led producer Roy Cousins to bring him into the studio, resulting in his 1982 debut album, Presenting Charlie Chaplin, and several further releases with Cousins over the following years.

The tension between his cultural stance and the slackness dominating dancehall culminated in the 1984 clash album Slackness Vs Pure Culture, a direct pairing with Yellowman that framed the two as opposing poles of the genre. He continued recording through the 1980s and beyond, with albums including Que Dem (1985), Two Sides of Charlie Chaplin (1989), Cry Blood (1991), and Kings of the Dancehall (1994), released across labels such as RAS, Trojan, and his own Crown Production imprint. In 2013 he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Distinction in recognition of his contribution to music.