Prince Blanco
Encyclopedia
Mark Matthews, konown by his stage name Prince Blanco, is a singer and musician
based in Toronto
, Canada
, predominantly performing and recording in the reggae
, ska
and dub
genre.
where he spent most of his youth and now going by the surname 'Matthews'.
, The Rolling Stones
, Slade
, T. Rex
and the 'Trojan
' reggae sound of the seventies such as Ken Boothe
and The Upsetters
. However it was the punk rock
of the late seventies followed by the ska revival of the early eighties that got him involved in music. Mark picked up the drums and made several unsuccessful attempts at forming bands that would fuse the sounds of reggae and punk together, similar to what groups such as Basement 5
, The Ruts
, The Specials
and of course, The Clash
were attempting at the time.
. After three years, a number of critically acclaimed releases and tours the band broke up and Mark left music to pursue other interests and to spend time back in England. In 1996, Matthews reappeared on the Canadian music scene as the drummer/vocalist for ska group The Skanksters
who released the influential Dub Cookery album in the US in 1997. The group eventually made several lineup changes to become Boogiewall Soundsystem, releasing the album Supermyownband in 2005 which featured one of the first 'official' vocal appearances of Prince Blanco.
group, The Liquidaires under the name Prince Blanco. Mark had travelled to Jamaica
a number of times during the 1990s and on one of these trips was given the opportunity to sing onstage with reggae singer Jack Radics and legendary trombonist Vin Gordon
. He was introduced onstage with a name given to him earlier that afternoon by a local Rasta
named Super...'King Blanco'. Mark said he was "not worthy of being named a king" and settled for Prince Blanco - the name stuck. Over the last ten years, Prince Blanco has performed alongside artists such as Willi Williams
, Michael Rose, Freddie McGregor
and others. His most recent releases include the album Rebel Discothèque, two of three singles with producer Dubmatix and the Shatter The Hotel project, a benefit for Strummerville
featuring various artists covering Joe Strummer
compositions in a dub style. Prince Blanco's collaboration with Dubmatix, "Gonna Be Alright" won a Juno Award
in 2010 for 'Best Reggae Recording'.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
based in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, predominantly performing and recording in the 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...
, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
genre.
Early life
Mark was born in Newport on the Isle Of Wight off the south coast of England. His mother was a hairdresser and his father, a musician. Following his parent's divorce, his mother remarried and the family moved to southwest LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where he spent most of his youth and now going by the surname 'Matthews'.
Musical Background
Mark's earliest musical influences were Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
, T. Rex
T. Rex (band)
T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
and the 'Trojan
Trojan Records
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...
' reggae sound of the seventies such as Ken Boothe
Ken Boothe
Ken Boothe OD is a Jamaican recording artist.-Biography:Ken Boothe was born in the Denham Town area of Kingston in 1948, the youngest of seven children, and began singing in school...
and The Upsetters
The Upsetters
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am The Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Coxsone Dodd....
. However it was the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
of the late seventies followed by the ska revival of the early eighties that got him involved in music. Mark picked up the drums and made several unsuccessful attempts at forming bands that would fuse the sounds of reggae and punk together, similar to what groups such as Basement 5
Basement 5
Basement 5 were a reggae punk fusion band from London founded in 1978. Their first vocalist was Winston Fergus, then Don Letts. One of their early performances was a support for Public Image Ltd.'s London debut at the Rainbow on Christmas Day 1978...
, The Ruts
The Ruts
The Ruts were a reggae-influenced British punk rock band, notable for the 1979 Top 10 hit "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was much played and highly regarded by the UK BBC Radio 1 disc jockey, John Peel.-Career:...
, The Specials
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
and of course, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
were attempting at the time.
Canada
Eventually relocating to Toronto, Canada in the late eighties, Mark continued to play drums but had by this time gained recognition as a singer leading to him give up the drums and join the powerpop group Living Room as lead vocalistLead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
. After three years, a number of critically acclaimed releases and tours the band broke up and Mark left music to pursue other interests and to spend time back in England. In 1996, Matthews reappeared on the Canadian music scene as the drummer/vocalist for ska group The Skanksters
The Skanksters
The Skanksters were a reggae/dub/ska band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, active from 1992 to 2002. They released one album in the United States as The Skanksters, Dub Cookery in addition to numerous tracks released on compilations in Canada, The United States and Europe...
who released the influential Dub Cookery album in the US in 1997. The group eventually made several lineup changes to become Boogiewall Soundsystem, releasing the album Supermyownband in 2005 which featured one of the first 'official' vocal appearances of Prince Blanco.
Prince Blanco
In the late nineties, Mark began 'moonlighting' as a solo reggae and ska vocalist and also as a member of ska/calypsoCalypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
group, The Liquidaires under the name Prince Blanco. Mark had travelled to 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...
a number of times during the 1990s and on one of these trips was given the opportunity to sing onstage with reggae singer Jack Radics and legendary trombonist Vin Gordon
Vin Gordon
Vin Gordon is a Jamaican trombone player.-Biography:Gordon grew up in Jones Town, Kingston, Jamaica as one of eight children. He went to Kingston's catholic Alpha Boys School where he learned to play trombone and string bass. One of his tutors was Lennie Hibbert...
. He was introduced onstage with a name given to him earlier that afternoon by a local Rasta
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
named Super...'King Blanco'. Mark said he was "not worthy of being named a king" and settled for Prince Blanco - the name stuck. Over the last ten years, Prince Blanco has performed alongside artists such as Willi Williams
Willi Williams
Willi Williams is a Jamaican reggae and dub musician and producer. He is known as the "Armagideon Man" after his hit, "Armagideon Time", first recorded in 1978 at Studio One in Kingston. The song was covered by The Clash as the flipside of their "London Calling" single.-Biography:Williams was born...
, Michael Rose, Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor has been variously a singer, musician and producer. According to Allmusic he is one of reggae's most durable and soulful singers, with a steady career that started in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old.-Biography:In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to...
and others. His most recent releases include the album Rebel Discothèque, two of three singles with producer Dubmatix and the Shatter The Hotel project, a benefit for Strummerville
Strummerville
Strummerville is the Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music. It was established shortly after Strummer's death in the winter of 2002 by his wife Lucinda, who serves as a trustee...
featuring various artists covering Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
compositions in a dub style. Prince Blanco's collaboration with Dubmatix, "Gonna Be Alright" won a Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
in 2010 for 'Best Reggae Recording'.
Personal life
Mark aka Prince Blanco lives in Toronto's west end and is married with two children. He still maintains a fairly transatlantic presence, travelling back to the UK as much as possible.Selected discography
| Year | Group | Title | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | The Skanksters | Dub Cookery | Album | Simmerdown USA |
| 2003 | The Liquidaires | Looking Up | Album | |
| 2005 | Boogiewall Soundsystem | Supermyownband | Album | OhmGrown/Universal |
| 2005 | The Liquidaires | Meeting Place | Album | |
| 2006 | Prince Blanco & The Rocksteady Allstars | Prince Blanco & The Rocksteady Allstars | E.P. | Mojobrand |
| 2008 | Prince Blanco | Rebel Discothèque | Album | MojoBrand |
| 2008 | Dubmatix featuring Prince Blanco | "Don't Pressurize Me" | Single | 7 Arts |
| 2008 | Dubmatix featuring Prince Blanco | "Gonna Be Alright" | Single | 7 Arts |
| 2009 | Prince Blanco | "Tuff Dub" | Single | Citizen Sound |