Alborosie

The first Italian reggae artist to be internationally recognised, Alberto D’ Ascola (aka Alborosie) was born in Sicily in 1977.

He formed his first band “Reggae National Tickets” in 1992 and they quickly reached success selling more than 200,000 records.

They were the first Italian band to play at Sunsplash and Sumfest in Jamaica in the Nineties.

After their success in Italy, Alborosie moved to Jamaica in 2000. His friendship with John Baker (ex-producer of Pm Dawn and member of Island Records) was decisive: he began to work in Baker’s Geejam studio in the Jamaican countryside and, little by little, he worked as a sound engineer and producer for international artists such as Wyclef, Angie Stone and Sisco.

He also recorded Manu Chao and Nubians at the time of their visits on the island.

Thanks to his talent as a producer, he managed the group Digicel Rising. After this experience, he labelled his first record Alborosie on his own label Forward Music in 2004.

Despite some good tracks, most notably Burnin’ and Lootin with Ky-mani Marley, he would have to wait until 2006 to reach international recognition with Herbalist which was considered best song of the year by David Rodigan.

Alborosie becomes the first white artist to be distributed in Jamaica by Bob Marley’s label, Tuff Gong.