I am delighted to introduce to you all my friend and international reggae artist, Daddy Roots. Born a Rasta on April 23, 1977 in North Valley, Anguilla; the youngest of fifteen children. Roots left school at an early age and gained great education in life from the day-to day living in the streets of Anguilla. Roots elaborates:
Nothing comes to you on a platter unless you have a certain position in society. If you are the underdog, you don’t get anything and have to fight for everything.
Daddy Roots’ religion is love - his reaction to anger and hatred is to walk away with love in his heart and a smile on his face. Daddy Roots believes that around the corner of depression lies hope and his songs titles including “Love And Honor“, “I Am At Peace With Myself”, “Walk Away From War”, “ Happiness” and “Moving On” express his philosophy of peace and harmony for everyone.
Daddy Roots left Anguilla in 2002 to pursue his musical dreams and, early that same year, started his first ever tour in the States…..going from the west to the Midwest and hitting clubs like The Independent (San Fransisco), Malibu Inn (Malibu), Belly Up, OC Tavern, West Coast Festivals before heading out for some colleges in the Midwest and onwards to Chicago’s premier reggae club “Wild Hare”. He is also thankful the opportunity to perform in New Orleans before the world was rocked by Katrina.
Roots then got invited to perform at Ghana’s Panafest and Emancipation day in the summer of 2004 and spent a couple of months playing out there and expanded his musical repertoire.
In 2005 Daddy Roots’ song, “Magar Goat”, was in the movie “Broken Flowers” starring Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange. “ Magar Goat” was also used in a Canadian TV Lifetime Movie “Fugitive”. He also has a song, “It’s All Good” on the soundtrack of “Rastafarian Dreaming” documentary, an independent film produced in Toronto, Canada and shown around in Reggae Festivals in the United States.
Daddy Roots won BEST REGGAE VOCALIST 2006 at the 16th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards held at the Music Box, Hollywood, where Gwen Stefani and Black Eye Peas got one of their earlier awards from.
In Late 2007 Daddy Roots aka ZKing of Hearts completed a new cutting-edge album, Happiness, featuring the likes of Wailers/Steel Pulse producer Karl Pitterson, St. Maarten producer Connis Vanterpool and West Coast deejay/producer extraordinaire Peter “Peas” McEvilley.
Daddy Roots is now back in North America to promote his latest CD which, since its release, is spreading blessed love throughout the airwaves of North America and the Caribbean. The release was one of the most added CD to radio playlists nationwide according to CMJ’s New World Chart where it still remains a favourite among programmers. Over 60 stations are spinning Daddy Roots now, including non-commercial powerhouses such as WBAI in New York and KPFA in Berkeley where it received Top 10 status. Leading airplay tracks include the timely “Make Love Not War”, which peaked on Mediaguide’s top reggae songs, and the irresistible herbal anthem “Weedy Wop”. “Are You Willin’?” showcases Daddy Roots’ creative depth and many styles which have already shown great promise of crossover potential.
ALBUMS:
2001 “Two Sides of Love-Chapter One”
2002 “Love and Honor”
2003 “All Here Now”
2007 “Happiness (is in your heart)”
Often described as ‘Bob Marley meets Ben Harper’, Roots recently said to me of his own musical influences:
I am blesssed to have met so many positive people. I left my tiny island I have to admit a bit naively because I thought the rest of the world would be as warm as little Anguilla. I got the chance to work with Zion Trains genius Neil Perch in Germany/Croatia and with Tippa Irie in the UK and I tell you he is one of the best human beings…so kind, humble, considerate and professional on top of all that. Pato Banton is another great man who is also a great positive influence in my life. I am honored to call him a friend.
On that note, I am honoured to call Roots a friend and hope you have enjoyed reading about him. Watch out for more too come from this great reggae artist!
