Archie Wonder

Born Delroy Taylor in Clarendon, Jamaica, in 1970, the singer grew up in Denbigh, a village near May Pen southwest of Kingston. He first sharpened his voice on neighborhood sound systems, stepping onstage as a teenager with Commando before moving on to Bodyguard and Black Cat. Early on he billed himself Singing Zorro, a nod both to his light complexion and his admiration for The Mask of Zorro. Sanchez and Yammie Bolo shaped his initial approach, yet he quickly forged a distinctive delivery of his own.

At seventeen he left school and, buoyed by his sound-system reputation, performed at Reggae Sumfest and Reggae Ram Jam. Those appearances led to his first studio date with Trevor Davis, who cut the single “If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another.” Without promotional funds the track stalled, but Wonder pressed on, recording next for Super Plus and then for Jah Screw, who laid down several tracks that remained unreleased in 1999. A fresh version of the same song, cut with Winston Riley, prompted the producer to suggest a new stage name; although their collaboration proved brief, the artist continued as Archie Wonder. Among later sessions, Lloyd Dennis oversaw covers of Brian McKnight’s “Back At One” and “I Want You” plus the original “Mama Says,” yielding local radio play and a trip to Britain to work with Wooligan. Vivian Jones then helmed Wonder’s debut album, a set rooted in cultural lovers rock whose standout cuts included “Over U Now,” “Smokey Eyes,” “She Did Not Know I Missed The Plane,” and the a cappella “Jah Guide I.”