Lady Saw
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Lady Saw (actually Marion Hall * 12. July 1972 in Galina, St. Mary , Jamaica ) is a dancehall - and Reggae - Deejay .
Career
Lady Saw was already on stage at the age of 15. After making a name for herself as a singer in her hometown in the early 1980s, she moved to Kingston to make herself heard in front of a wider audience. She worked with a sound system called Romantics and only tried a few real dancehall tunes, including covering Chaka Khan songs.
At this time she also got her stage name Lady Saw, based on the then popular singer Tenor Saw , whose way of singing reminded Hall's style.
After returning to her hometown, she performed in a show initiated by the Stereo One sound system in St. Mary. Here she not only earned the respect of the audience, but also of the other dancehall greats of the time. She subsequently returned to Kingston and released Love Me or Lef Me on Capricorn , followed by Bogle Dance and Am I Losing You , which were successful in both Jamaica and England.
The piece If Him Lef became authoritative for her often harsh and sexually suggestive lyrics. With Stab Out Mi Meat it finally became clear that this topic should develop into their leitmotif. The success of such songs can probably also be explained by the fact that Lady Saw was the first woman in the male-dominated singing culture of Jamaica to express sexual thoughts and desires in such an unmistakable way and thus speak from the soul of many women (whereas this is already common with male deejays and there was). She became the founder of the "Rude Gyal" image, which is still picked up by female dancehall artists today .
Her first number one single was Find a Good Man (Diamond Rush), which gave her access to major reggae and dancehall festivals such as Reggae Sunsplash , Sumfest and Sting. Here she knew like no other how to inspire the masses and only to fuel public criticism of her and especially of her lyrics - which led to her being banned from all shows for some time. Saw found and still finds drastic words for imitators and competitors, for example for Patra, who threatened to overtake her international rank in the early 1990s due to lucrative record deals ("bout she a queen a di pack we - fi who?" In Follow Me ) or in attacks against her colleague that have increased since her falling out with Tanya Stephens (including Way Back , Pop Down Peggy ).
Today Lady Saw is one of the greats of dancehall and her status as "Queen a di Dancehall" was once again paid tribute to by the fans by naming her as "Muma Saw", the mother of all female dancehall artists - an honor that before her only Sister Nancy was awarded as patroness of the Raggamuffin Girls. Her most successful songs include Give Me a Reason , Sycamore Tree , Bossman (with Beenie Man and Sean Paul ), Son of a Bitch (in response to Shaggy's It Wasn't Me ), Baddest Girl and Loser (with Ce'Cile ). She works with Missy Elliott , Sean Paul and UB40 , among others . In 2001 she contributed the rap track to No Doubt's hit Underneath It All . In 2004 she released two best-of albums and a live DVD.
In April 2007 she released her last album, Walk Out, for the independent label VP Records , named after the title tune on the Baddis riddim. It includes Infertility , which attracted attention in Jamaica and in which Saw addresses her own infertility after several miscarriages. In this very personal piece she processes the experience that sterile women are often not accepted as full women in their culture. Lady Saw has three adopted children.
Discography
Albums
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Singles
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swell
- ↑ Chart discography Singles
- ↑ See Allmusic biography, biography at laut.de and bio at www.ladysaw.com. All accessed April 5, 2012.
Web links
- Sound carrier by Lady Saw in the catalog of the German National Library
- Lady Saw's website
- Lady Saw at Discogs (English)
- Lady Saw at laut.de
- Lady Saw at Allmusic (English)
- Lady Saw Cuts Loose: Female Fertility Rituals in Jamaican Dancehall Culture by Carolyn Cooper (English)
- Interview with Lady Saw (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lady Saw |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hall, Marion (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jamaican dancehall reggae artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 12, 1972 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Galina, St. Mary |