Eek-a-Mouse
Encyclopedia
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
) is a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
musician. He is one of the early artists to be described as a "singjay
Singjay
Singjaying is a Jamaican style of reggae vocals combining toasting and singing in an elastic format that encourages rhythmically compelling and texturally impressive vocal embellishments. The performer is called singjay, a combination of singer and deejay.The fusion of singing and deejaying...
".
Biography
Eek-A-Mouse began his music career when he was in college, releasing two roots reggaeRoots 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...
singles under his own name, which were produced by his mathematics tutor, Mr. Dehaney. These early works were influenced by the music of Pablo Moses
Pablo Moses
-Biography:Pablo Moses has released a number of records over several decades, but he is best known for his debut, 1975's Revolutionary Dream, produced by Geoffrey Chung, which included "I Man A Grasshopper", engineered at The Black Ark by Lee "Scratch" Perry. His 1980 follow up, A Song, was well...
. He then went on to work for various sound systems over the next few years and also released a few more singles. He adopted the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
"Eek-A-Mouse" in 1979, taking the name of a racehorse he always bet on; it was a nickname his friends had used for some time. He began recording for Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs (record producer)
Joe Gibbs born Joel A. Gibson was a Jamaican reggae producer.-Biography:Joe Gibbs worked as an electronics engineer in the United States before his career in music started. Gibbs eventually returned to Kingston, Jamaica and opened an electrical repair shop with television repairs and sales as its...
in 1979, having a hit straight away with "Once a Virgin", now showing the influence of Ranking Joe
Ranking Joe
Ranking Joe aka Little Joe is a reggae deejay who rose to prominence in the 1970s and had continuing success in the 1980s.-Biography:...
, and this was soon followed with "Wa-Do-Dem" (produced by Douglas Boothe), and "Modelling Queen", which began an association with Linval Thompson
Linval Thompson
Linval Thompson is a Jamaican reggae and dub musician and record producer.-Biography:Thompson was raised in Kingston, Jamaica, but spent time with his mother in Queens, New York, and his recording career began around the age of 20 with the self-released "No Other Woman," recorded in Brooklyn, New...
, who produced his debut Bubble Up Yu Hip album.
By the end of 1980, he had linked up with producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes, with whom he had big hits in 1981 with the likes of "Virgin Girl" and a recut "Wa-Do-Dem". In 1981, he was the star of the Reggae Sunsplash
Reggae Sunsplash
Reggae Sunsplash is a reggae music festival first staged in 1978 in the northern part of Jamaica. In 1985 it expanded with the addition of an international touring festival...
Festival, cheering audiences still mourning over the death of reggae icon 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...
. His association with Lawes led to a string of successful singles and albums, and in 1982 his hits included "Wild Like a Tiger", "For Hire and Removal", "Do You Remember", and "Ganja Smuggling". The same year he released his second album, Wa Do Dem. The "Operation Eradication" single showed Hilton's serious side, the song inspired by the vigilante killing of close friend and fellow DJ Errol Shorter. Skidip was released before the year was out.
Further albums followed with 1983's Mouse and the Man, produced by Linval Thompson, and 1984's Mouseketeer, again produced by Lawes. He also featured on several of the live dancehall albums from the era, including the Aces International and Live at Skateland collections. In the second half of the decade his popularity began to wane slightly, and he targeted the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the Assassinator album in 1985 (his first US release), produced by Anthony and Ronald Welch. He also travelled to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to record The King and I the same year, the album targeted at the rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
crossover audience to which he had begun to appeal to.
His 1988 album Eek-A-Nomics saw him begin to establish himself with an international audience, spawning a club hit with "The Freak", and he was signed by Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in 1989. He returned to prominence with 1991's U-Neek album, which continued the rock-oriented style, including a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's "D'yer Mak'er
D'yer Mak'er
"D'yer Mak'er" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy.-Overview:...
", and from which the hit single "You're The One I Need" was taken. He went through a period of relative quietness before returning in 1996 with the Black Cowboy album.
He also has a performance in the 1991 gangster movie New Jack City
New Jack City
New Jack City is a 1991 crime film starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, and Chris Rock. Snipes stars as Nino Brown, a rising drug dealer and crime lord in New York City during the crack epidemic...
playing a drug-dealing Rastafarian, Fat Smitty, who comes to a shockingly grisly end.
Eek-A-Mouse is a regular at Sunsplash and often teams up with reggae duo Michigan & Smiley
Michigan & Smiley
Michigan and Smiley were a Jamaican singing combo of the late 1970s first wave of dancehall music, consisting of Papa Michigan and General Smiley .-Career:...
. An album was issued of his performance in 1983. He was also featured on nu metal
Nu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...
group P.O.D.
P.O.D.
Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...
's album Satellite, lending his vocals to the rock-reggae track "Ridiculous." He can also be heard on OPM
OPM (band)
OPM is a Southern California based ska punk band. OPM has a distinctive sound, combining hip hop, rock music, and pop with laid-back reggae.-Band history:...
's album, ForThemAsses
ForThemAsses
ForThemAsses is the second album by California band OPM, released on June 1, 2004.-Track listing:# "Intro" – 0:34# "Bump" - 3:38# "Rollin" - 3:49# "Luffly" - 3:15# "Interlude: Dave Grohl" - 0:11# "Kali Kings" - 4:42...
, on the track "Perfect Day." Eek-A-Mouse recorded a song with hip-hop recording artist Ditch, called "Smoke it up" (2007, released in 2009), which is featured on Ditch's CD Public Intoxication. The song by Ditch and Eek-a-Mouse is featured on the Jack Herer documentary as well. Has as well teamed up with Bounty Killer and Damian Marley in " Khaki Suit"
Discography
- Bubble Up Yu Hip (1980) GreensleevesGreensleeves RecordsGreensleeves Records & Publishing is a record label specialising in dancehall and reggae music. The company was founded by Chris Cracknell and Chris Sedgwick and started as a small record store in West Ealing, London, in November 1975 and is based in Britain....
- Wa-Do-Dem (1981) ShanachieShanachie RecordsShanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic...
- Skidip! (1982) Shanachie
- The Mouse and the Man (1983) Shanachie
- Assassinator (1983) RASRAS RecordsRAS Records, also known as Real Authentic Sound, is a reggae record label.-History:RAS Records was founded in 1979 by Doctor Dread. In his travels to Jamaica he created a network within the reggae artist community there. By the early to mid 1980s RAS had signed artists such as Black Uhuru, Inner...
- Live At Reggae Sunsplash (1983) Sunsplash (with Michigan & Smiley)
- Mouseketeer (1984) Greensleeves
- The King and I (1985) Original Sounds, (1986) RAS
- Eek-A-NomicsEek-A-Nomics-Personnel:*Vocals – Eek-A-Mouse, Noel Alphonso, Paul Henton*Bass – Paul Henton*Drums – Noel Alphonso*Guitar – Ronald Butler*Piano – Paul Henton...
(1988) RAS - U-NeekU-NeekU-Neek is the tenth studio album by Jamaican reggae artist Eek-A-Mouse. It had a distinctively different sound compared to his previous albums, breaking away from the traditional reggae style in favor of more hip-hop and dancehall songs...
(1991) MangoIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group... - Black Cowboy (1996) Explicit
- Eeeksperience (2001) Coach House
- Mouse Gone Wild (2004) Sanctuary
- Eek-A-Speeka (2004) Greensleeves
- Live in San Francisco (2006) 2B1
- Eekziled (2011)
Compilations:
- Mouse-A-ManiaMouse-A-ManiaMouse-A-Mania is the eight studio album by Jamaican reggae singer Eek-A-Mouse. The album is a collection of two of The Mouse's prior albums The Assassinator and The King And I .-Track listing:...
(1987) RAS - The Very Best Of (1987) Greensleeves
- Ras Portraits (1997) RAS
- The Very Best Of Vol.2 (2003) Shanachie
- Most Wanted (2009) Greensleeves
- Ganja Smuggling (2009)