Ini Kamoze

Reggae artist Ini Kamoze was born Cecil Campbell in the Jamaican town of Saint Mary in 1957. Campbell is something of an enigma in the world of Jamaican reggae and after a promising start to his music career he released a six track mini-album on Chris Blackwell's Island label. The album was engineered by the legendary production team of Sly and Robbie and was initially well-received. Campbell looked set to become an emerging new talent but unfortunately he only released tracks sporadically and failed to capitalise on the interest which had been generated in his work. By the late 1980s he had all but disappeared from the reggae scene.

Some years later he founded his own label and released 'Here Comes the Hotstepper'. The track, which drew heavily on Wilson Pickett's 1966 hit 'Land of a 1000 Dances', was an instant success and charted well around the world effectively re-launching Campbell's career. Despite the second chance at commercial success however, Campbell still only recorded sporadically and although he is a respected artist within the reggae genre he has never realised the commercial success enjoyed by many of his peers.