Pato Banton
Encyclopedia
Pato Banton is a reggae
singer and toaster from Birmingham
, England
. He received the nickname
'Pato' (Jamaican Patois
for "wise owl") from his stepfather, and 'Banton' from the disc jockey
slang for a "heavyweight DJ".
. He recorded "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" with Ranking Roger
, included on the 1982 album Special Beat Service
. He went on to record a series of singles for Fashion Records
and Don Christie Records. He was one of the guest artists that appeared on the UB40
album
Baggariddim
in 1985. Banton's debut album was the 1985, Mad Professor
-produced Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton, followed in 1987 by Never Give In, which included a collaboration with Paul Shaffer
and a follow-up to his earlier collaboration with ranking Roger with "Pato and Roger Come Again". After an EP
in 1988, Banton released a more pop-oriented LP
, Visions of the World, followed by 1990's Wize Up! (No Compromise), which included a college radio hit in Spirits in the Material World
(The Police
cover
) and another collaboration, "Wize Up!", this time with David Hinds
of Steel Pulse
.
Banton then worked on a live album and with Mad Professor
, and then released 1992's Universal Love. After a 1994 British
Number 1 hit in Baby Come Back (originally by Eddy Grant
performing with The Equals
), with Robin and Ali Campbell
of UB40
, a best-of album was released, and Banton was invited by Sting to join him on his "This Cowboy Song" single. 1996's Stay Positive was followed by Life Is a Miracle in 2000. Life Is a Miracle received a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album
in 2001
. More recently, Banton has been playing with Mystic Roots, a reggae band formed in Chico, California
. Banton, a lifelong Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
fan disapproved of the sacking of manager Dave Jones after a dismal season in 2004. He made his views public during a more recent match, when he came onto the pitch at half-time to sing "Come back, Davey come Back" a revised version of his 1994 number one hit.
A period of deep reflection and meditation left Pato feeling guided to continue his musical journey. In early 2005 Spiritual Guide Yahe Boda invited Pato to do a short tour across America to “Gather the People in Praise.” This experience led to Pato recording the inspired double album entitled “The Words of Christ,” a narrated album of Christ’s teachings as revealed in the Urantia Book
.
In 2006 he appeared onscreen in a brief cameo role, playing Jay, the owner of an upmarket bar, in the film Lycanthropy."
Pato's most recent release is Destination Paradise (2008). He began 2009 with the formation of a new band, the Now Generation, who undertook a state wide tour of the US
, with a commitment to spreading the teachings of the Urantia Book
through his performances and speaking engagements throughout the world.
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...
singer and toaster from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He received the nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
'Pato' (Jamaican Patois
Jamaican Creole
Jamaican Patois, known locally as Patois or Jamaican, and called Jamaican Creole by linguists, is an English-lexified creole language with West African influences spoken primarily in Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora. It is not to be confused with Jamaican English nor with the Rastafarian use of...
for "wise owl") from his stepfather, and 'Banton' from the disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
slang for a "heavyweight DJ".
Biography
Born in Birmingham, Banton first came to public attention in the early 1980s when he worked with The BeatThe Beat (band)
The Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics....
. He recorded "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" with Ranking Roger
Ranking Roger
Ranking Roger is an English musician. He was a vocalist in the 1980s two-tone band, The Beat and General Public...
, included on the 1982 album Special Beat Service
Special Beat Service
Special Beat Service was the third and final album by British ska band The Beat. Like the rest of their material, it was released in the US under the name "The English Beat"...
. He went on to record a series of singles for Fashion Records
Fashion Records
Fashion Records is a UK-based record label publishing reggae music.Founded in summer 1980, Fashion Records is one of the more successful UK-based reggae labels , and one of only a very few British reggae labels to release records that were produced in their own recording studio.The label was the...
and Don Christie Records. He was one of the guest artists that appeared on the UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Baggariddim
Baggariddim
Baggariddim is an album by UB40, released in 1985. Most of the tracks are reworkings of previous UB40 recordings that originally appeared on Labour of Love and Geffery Morgan, here showcasing guest singers and "toasters" on vocals...
in 1985. Banton's debut album was the 1985, 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...
-produced Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton, followed in 1987 by Never Give In, which included a collaboration with Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...
and a follow-up to his earlier collaboration with ranking Roger with "Pato and Roger Come Again". After an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in 1988, Banton released a more pop-oriented LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, Visions of the World, followed by 1990's Wize Up! (No Compromise), which included a college radio hit in Spirits in the Material World
Spirits in the Material World
"Spirits in the Material World" is a song by new wave trio The Police, written by Sting. It is the opening track for their 1981 album Ghost in the Machine. The song features bass, guitar, synthesizer, drums, saxophone, and vocals. It has a Jamaican Ska beat which changes to a swaggering rock beat...
(The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
cover
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...
) and another collaboration, "Wize Up!", this time with David Hinds
David Hinds
David "Dread" Hinds is the English rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist for the Grammy Award winning reggae band, Steel Pulse....
of Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a roots reggae musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, in Birmingham, England, composed of David Hinds , Basil Gabbidon , and Ronald McQueen .-History:...
.
Banton then worked on a live album and with 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 then released 1992's Universal Love. After a 1994 British
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...
Number 1 hit in Baby Come Back (originally by Eddy Grant
Eddy Grant
Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant is a musician, born in Plaisance, Guyana.- Life and career :When he was still a young boy, his parents emigrated to London, UK, where he settled. He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park...
performing with The Equals
The Equals
The Equals were a pop/reggae/rock group that formed in North London, England in 1965. They are mainly remembered for its million-selling chart-topper, "Baby Come Back". Eddy Grant, then sporting dyed blonde hair, founded the group...
), with Robin and Ali Campbell
Ali Campbell
Ali Campbell, , is a British singer, solo artist and songwriter and was the lead singer and founding member of UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records world wide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008 Campbell left UB40 and embarked on a successful solo career.-Personal...
of UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
, a best-of album was released, and Banton was invited by Sting to join him on his "This Cowboy Song" single. 1996's Stay Positive was followed by Life Is a Miracle in 2000. Life Is a Miracle received a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album
Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album
The Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works in the reggae music genre...
in 2001
Grammy Awards of 2001
The 43rd Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001. Steely Dan was the biggest winner winning three awards including Album of the Year for Two Against Nature. U2 was also a big winner winning three awards as well; including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Beautiful Day. Dr...
. More recently, Banton has been playing with Mystic Roots, a reggae band formed in Chico, California
Chico, California
Chico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...
. Banton, a lifelong Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
fan disapproved of the sacking of manager Dave Jones after a dismal season in 2004. He made his views public during a more recent match, when he came onto the pitch at half-time to sing "Come back, Davey come Back" a revised version of his 1994 number one hit.
A period of deep reflection and meditation left Pato feeling guided to continue his musical journey. In early 2005 Spiritual Guide Yahe Boda invited Pato to do a short tour across America to “Gather the People in Praise.” This experience led to Pato recording the inspired double album entitled “The Words of Christ,” a narrated album of Christ’s teachings as revealed in the Urantia Book
The Urantia Book
The Urantia Book is a spiritual and philosophical book that discusses God, Jesus, science, cosmology, religion, history, and destiny. It originated in Chicago, Illinois, sometime between 1924 and 1955...
.
In 2006 he appeared onscreen in a brief cameo role, playing Jay, the owner of an upmarket bar, in the film Lycanthropy."
Pato's most recent release is Destination Paradise (2008). He began 2009 with the formation of a new band, the Now Generation, who undertook a state wide tour of the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with a commitment to spreading the teachings of the Urantia Book
The Urantia Book
The Urantia Book is a spiritual and philosophical book that discusses God, Jesus, science, cosmology, religion, history, and destiny. It originated in Chicago, Illinois, sometime between 1924 and 1955...
through his performances and speaking engagements throughout the world.
Discography
- Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton (1985)
- Never Give In (1987)
- Visions Of The World (1989)
- Mad Professor Recaptures Pato Banton (1990)
- Wize Up! (No Compromize) (1990)
- Live & Kickin All Over America (1991)
- Universal Love (1992)
- Collections (1994)
- Stay Positive (1996)
- Tudo De Bom - Live In Brazil (2000)
- Life Is A Miracle (2000)
- Live At The Maritime - San Francisco (2001)
- The Best Of Pato Banton (2002)
- Positive Vibrations (2007)
- Pato Banton and Friends (2008)
- Destination Paradise (2008)