Wayne Wonder

Wayne Wonder on the Chiemsee Reggae Summer (2013)

Wayne Wonder (* 26 July 1972 in Buff Bay , Jamaica ; actually By Wayne Charles ) is a Jamaican reggae - and dancehall - singjay .

Private

Charles was born in the city of Buff Bay, Portland Parish , Jamaica in 1972 . His mother was a locally known choir singer of the Galilee Gospel Church and he himself began to sing in the church choir of the Sunday Church as a child. At an early age he moved with his family to the eastern part of Kingston , Jamaica. First he lived in the Dunkirk district, later also in the Rae Town district and the city of Franklin Town in Kingston Parish . He wrote his first own songs at the age of 13. He got the name Wayne Wonder from his friends because they "wondered" what was going on in his head. He was a great singer from childhood. Charles was known for performing his songs everywhere and he managed to enchant audiences.

Charles has been married since 2002 and has a daughter (born 1991) and a son (born 2006). He has lived with his family in Fort Lauderdale , Florida , USA, since 2004 . He has his own studio in New York.

Career

1980s

His career began at Metro Media in Allman Town , Jamaica, where a singing competition was held every Wednesday and he was a regular participant. There he was discovered and promoted by Sly Dunbar . A contract signing with the label Sonic Records failed, however, because he preferred an accompaniment of the Roots artist Black Uhuru on his tour. The turning point in his career began when he met well-known producer and label owner King Tubby . In 1985, Wayne Wonder's first single called "Long and Lasting Love" was released during its production . In addition to several original titles, Wayne sings several cover versions of popular songs under Tubby's direction, including Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" . 1987 The first album with the name "Wayne Wonder" appears on vinyl and cassette. In 1989 the song "Its Over Now" was created . This became his first big hit which was popular all over Jamaica and of which many cover versions were made. The practice of covering was popular in Jamaica at the time and Wayne Wonder spoke out against it: “At first I was extremely frustrated. You bring your own songs into the studio and they don't even want to listen to them there. Use any time on your creativity or attention to what you are trying to create " .

1990s

In the early 1990s, Wonder met his old school friend Dave Kelly who was a successful producer on the Penthouse records label. At the time one of the most famous labels for dancehall music. Together they released a number of hits including songs like "Searching Dem Searching" , "The Saddest day of my life" , "Sweet and Sour" , "Bashment Girl" , "Rainbow", and "Glamor Girl" . The unloved cover songs are also inevitable. Wayne Wonder interprets Tracy Chapman's “Fast Car” , “Die Without You” by PM Dawn and En Vogue's “Hold On” . The song that made Wayne Wonder better known in 1991 was also not his own: "Movie Star" is based on the hit "I Don't Know Why" by Delroy Wilson . In the same year his second album called "Part 2" was released . Wayne Wonder played a major role in creating the first successes of the Deejays Buju Banton. He wrote the early hits "Murderer" , "Boom By By" and "Deportee" . In 1992 he recorded the duet “Bonafide Love” with Banton, which became a world-famous hit. The song was released with the track "Movie Star" on the Penthouse Records label. Together the two went on tour through the USA and Europe. After Banton signs with the US label Mercury Records, Wonder works again with Dave Kelly, who now owns the Madhouse and Xtra Large labels . In the nineties, numerous hits, among others, were created in collaboration. "Joyride" , "Keep Them Coming" and "Bashment Gal" which were preferably released on the Madhouse label . Together they also found the band Alias , in which all band members appear under pseudonyms. Wayne Wonder adopts the name Surprize . Under his own name he wants from then on only his own songs singing: "How can I be proud of my performance when I'm on stage and sing songs by other artists?" . In a second band project called Entourage , in addition to his duties as a singer and songwriter, he also works as a live instrumentalist for the first time. In 1999, after eight years, his third album called "Collectors Series" was released .

2000 until today

In 2000 Wayne Wonder founded his own record label, Singso Records , on which he did not release any songs. However, he works as a producer on most of the releases. In 2001 he remixed his old song The Saddest Day for the rapper Foxy Brown to create a new version. This appeared on their album Broken Silence . A year later the song No Letting Go appears on the popular Diwali Riddim , which made it world famous. The song reached number 11 on the US Billboard charts . After this success, Wayne Wonder signed a contract with Atlantic Records . His two albums No Holding Back and You Me And She were released there in 2003 , with many well-known musicians such as Elephant Man in support. The album No Holding Back received a Grammy nomination for best reggae album of the year and other awards, despite previous bad reviews. Between 2004 and 2005 Wayne Wonder played together with his combo Entourage. In 2007, his last album for the time being, Foreva, appeared with its hit single I Still Believe, which was released a year earlier .

Discography

Albums

Singles

Collaboration with other artists

Chart placements

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2003	No holding back	-	-	-	UK40 silver (9 weeks)UK	US29 (18 weeks) US	First published: March 4, 2003

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2003	No Letting Go No Holding Back	DE31 (9 weeks) DE	-	CH24 (10 weeks) CH	UK3 silver (8 weeks)UK	US11 (31 weeks) US	First published: January 2003
	Bounce Along No Holding Back	-	-	CH42 (2 weeks) CH	UK19 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 2003
2004	Anything Goes single track	-	-	CH54 (5 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: January 2004 with CNN & Lexxus
	My Everything Classic material	DE64 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: October 2004 with Raptile

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wayne Wonder biography on sing365.com ( Memento from June 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Wayne Wonder profile and biography on mtv.com (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Wayne Wonder profile and biography on laut.com
4. ↑ Wayne Wonder becomes father again Report at Yardflex.com (English)
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE CH UK US
6. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

Commons : Wayne Wonder  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Wayne Wonder's official website
• Wayne Wonder on MySpace
• Wayne Wonder at Discogs (English)
• Wayne Wonder in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• biography