Joseph Paquette, known as Prince Ital Joe, was born on May 5, 1963 in Roseau, Dominica, where he grew up until the age of eleven. In 1976, he moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York, where he later graduated from high school. In California in the late 1980s, he worked as an entertainer at private gigs and as a concert promoter, including for Ziggy Marley. Stylistically, he combines reggae, ragga, hip-hop and Eurodance. In 1993 he meets Mark Wahlberg (Marky Mark). Together they released the albumLife in the Streets in 1994, which reached number 10 in the album charts in Germany, number 21 in Austria and number 42 in Switzerland. The singles "Happy People" (1993, number 4 in Germany), "Life in the Streets" (1994, number 11 in Germany), "Babylon" (1995, number 17 in Germany) and the number one hit "United" (1994), which stayed in the charts for 23 weeks and reached the top 10 in several European countries, were taken from this album. The remix album The Remix Album followed in 1995, but did not achieve any notable chart positions. In the same year, Prince Ital Joe signed with Death Row Records and worked with Tha Dogg Pound, 2Pac and Daz Dillinger, but did not release his own solo album there. At the same time, he pursues an acting career. He appeared in Steven Seagal's 1994 film Marked for Death and appeared in the US television series EZ Streets and Players. Joseph Paquette died on May 16, 2001 at the age of 38 in a car accident on the highway near Phoenix, Arizona, on his way home to Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife Paulina and a daughter.
