Aisha, sometimes Sister Aisha (born Pamela Ross, 1962, Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

, England) is a roots reggae

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...

 singer.

Biography

Aisha's father ran a sound system and she began singing at the age of eight, building up a strong local following before beginning her recording career. At the age of sixteen she met Lippy, who owned the Locks City sound system, and she sang over the system's dub plates. In 1979, she successfully auditioned for the band Capital Letters as a backing vocalist. She went solo in 1984 and was soon introduced to Mad Professor

Mad Professor

Mad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...

, and after a few singles, Mad Professor produced her debut album, High Priestess (1988). A second album, Daughters of Zion appeared in 1993, with further albums in the years that followed, Aisha also working with Norman Grant of The Twinkle Brothers on two albums. She also featured on the Roots Daughters series of albums, alongside artists such as Kofi

Kofi (musician)

Carol Simms, better known as Kofi, is a British lovers rock singer who was a member of the group Brown Sugar prior to embarking on a solo career.-Biography:...

, Fabian, and Sandra Cross. She first performed in Jamaica in 2000 at the Augustus Pablo

Augustus Pablo

Horace Swaby , known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularized the use of the melodica in reggae music...

 Benefit concert, and her debut performance in the United States came in 2004. She performed at the 2003 Meltdown

Meltdown (festival)

Meltdown is an annual, English festival, held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre, the arts complex covering and including the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Hayward...

festival (curated by Lee "Scratch" Perry) at London's Royal Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...

, which saw The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

describe her as "the closest we have to a female Bob Marley

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...

". In 2006, she toured internationally with Mad Professor's Ariwa Posse.

Discography

• High Priestess (1988) Ariwa
• Daughters of Zion (1993) Twinkle
• True Roots (1994) Ariwa
• Raise Your Voice (1996) Twinkle
• There is More to Life (2005) Ariwa

External links

• Aisha at discogs.com
• Aisha profile, Ariwa.com