Anthony Malvo

Born on 4 January 1962 in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, Malvo established himself as a dancehall singer by contributing vocals to numerous successful recordings issued by the island’s leading producers. Among his earliest releases were the pairings ‘Come Back To Me’ and ‘Rain From The Skies’ with Tiger, followed by ‘Take You To The Dance’ with Lizard. He next recorded the solo tracks ‘Can’t Control The Feeling’ and ‘History Sound’ for Bobby Digital. His highest profile came through an extended collaboration with dancehall singer Anthony Red Rose, whose career reached its peak in 1994. On their own How Yu Fi Sey Dat label the pair issued separate hits that shared the same rhythm: Red Rose delivered ‘Ganja Man’ while Malvo, joined by Josey Wales, performed ‘Sensi’.

Throughout reggae history the dancehall has repeatedly shaped studio trends. In earlier eras a selector would spin a single rhythm while successive DJs improvised over it; by the early 1990s selectors began layering multiple prerecorded versions of one rhythm, giving listeners the sense that several artists were trading the microphone in succession. Even when sound systems kept the rhythm running uninterrupted, this technique prompted the duo to record ‘Informer’. They produced the track themselves and appeared on it together with Frankie Paul, Red Dragon, Snagga Puss, Lizard and Flourgon. The approach proved popular and soon inspired further multi-artist combination records. In 1994 the pair cut ‘Never Get’ in call-and-response format and also oversaw sessions for several leading Jamaican performers, among them Red Dragon’s ‘Sweetheart’, Beenie Man’s ‘Name Brand’ and Chuckleberry’s ‘Woman You’re Hard’, plus the combinations ‘You A Mi Heart’ with Merciless, ‘Red Alert’ with Prezident Brown and ‘Reminiscing’ with Spragga Benz. After a period of reduced activity Malvo returned in 1996 with the well-received ‘Main Ingredient’ and continued to produce additional hits for the How Yu Fi Sey Dat label.