Starkey Banton aka Starkey Super (born David Murray, 15 November 1962) is a 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...

 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...

 deejay

Deejay

A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...

 known for his "cultural" lyrics, active since the mid-1970s.

Biography

Born in Hammersmith

Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...

, London

London

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...

, in 1962, Murray began performing in the mid-1970s under the name Starkey Super on the London sound system circuit. He changed his stage name to Starkey Banton ("Banton" meaning a deejay full of lyrics) in response to the popularity of several other performers using the Banton name. His debut single, "Lover Dread", was released in 1993, bucking the trend for slackness

Slackness

Slackness refers to vulgarity in West Indian culture, behavior and the music. It also refers to a subgenre of dancehall music with straightforward sexual lyrics performed live or recorded. Its form and pronunciation varies throughout the Caribbean....

. This was followed by "Blackman Memories" and "Ganja Baby". In 1994 he worked with the One Love crew, who released his "Wicked Man" single, the popularity of which led to combination hits with Sweetie Irie

Sweetie Irie

Derrick Bent , better known as Sweetie Irie, is a British reggae singer and DJ.-Biography:Born in London in 1971, Bent began working on local sound systems as a teenager, bringing him to the attention of Angus Gaye of Aswad, who recruited him to toast on the dancehall mix of their single "On and On"...

 and Horace Andy

Horace Andy

Horace Andy is a roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", "Angel", "Five Man Army" and a cover version of "Ain't No Sunshine"....

, and an appearance at the 1995 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. His 1985 riposte to the Jungle music

Oldschool jungle

Jungle is a genre of electronic music that incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. There is debate as to whether jungle is a separate genre from drum and bass as many use the terms interchangeably...

 phenomenon, "Jungle Bungle" ("One bag a noise and a whole heap a sample, That's something my ear holes can't handle!"), was hugely popular among Britain's urban audience. He recorded 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...

, releasing "Nah Wear Nuh Versace", coincidentally released on the day Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...

 was murdered, followed by a string of cultural singles with "I Love King Selassie", "I & I Saw Them Coming", and "Weeping & Wailing", collected together along with the dub sides and new material on his debut album, Powers Youth, in 1997. The album featured Mykal Rose, with whom Banton recorded combination tracks "Release Me" and "Another Day in Babywrong". His second album, Rasta Mystic, was produced by 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...

, with rhythms provided by Mafia & Fluxy

Mafia & Fluxy

Mafia & Fluxy are a United Kingdom reggae rhythm section and production team consisting of brothers Leroy and David Heywood , whose careers began with London reggae band The Instigators in 1977...

 and Black Steel

Black Steel

Black Steel is an Australian heavy metal band, whose career highlights include supporting rock legends Deep Purple , Judas Priest , Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society and appearing at the Metallica-headlined 'Big Day Out' Perth show in 2004. They are listed in Garry Sharpe-Young's 'The A-Z Of Power...

, and released on Ariwa in 2000.

Banton has remained popular, and headlined the Aldajah Reggae Festival in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in 2005.

Albums

• Powers Youth (1997) Fashion
  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...
  
   (Starkey Banton meets the Dub Organiser)
• Rasta Mystic (2000) Ariwa
• 'Joy Of The World (2005)Jet Star / Bantonic