Stevie was born in Kent, near London in 1972, but spent most of his life growing up in the South West of England in Devon and Bristol. He also lived in Southampton for 2 years to complete his qualifications in illustration and graphic design.
In the 1990’s whilst he was living in the South West, Stevie sang occasionally with reggae and funk covers bands and then formed his own ’Levi Jah’ sound system featuring live percussion, keyboards and effects with bredrin Sadu ’Congo’ Devon and Jim X. During this period he became more familiar with the reggae scene in general. With the help of the promoters ’A girl called bob’ and ’THC’ promotions, Stevie combined his passion for reggae music and art by selling portraits of reggae stars at concerts and festivals.
This gave him the opportunity to go on tour with artists such as Aqua Levi & the Roots Imension, the Revolutionary Dub Warriors & Donnette Forte, Delroy Ogilvie and Iration Steppas with his portfolio of work. He has given his portraits to some of his inspirations in person, including MACKA B, the MAD PROFESSOR, AQUA LEVI, JAH SHAKA, DELROY OGILVIE, BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH and more recently whilst living in Lyon, WARRIOR KING, ANTHONY B, MICHAEL ROSE and DUCKIE SIMPSON. He still continues to make reggae portraits today and a selection of his work can be found in ’Livity Reggae’ shop in Lyon.
Stevie moved from Bristol to Lyon in 2003 to pursue his ambitions in music more seriously and help form the ’Dynamics’. In moving to Lyon he also rejoined long time friend Ivan Tacey (DJ Funky Monkey). The two began dj-ing together again and soon collaborated with other DJ’s and MC’s to form the ’High Five’ sound system, playing mainly a mix of reggae, funk, hip-hop, soul, electro and breakbeats. Singers and DJ’s featured in the ’High Five’ included Chinamean, Clectic, Flab Master Flab, Ladies Favorite, Mounam, Mr Day, Nasree, Patchworks, Selecta Seb and the Real Fake MC.
Since arriving in France Stevie has already played many concerts and festivals whether with the ’Dynamics’, ’High Five’ or with other reggae DJ’s. His first in France was at a small festival ’Funk in the Forest’ near St Etienne in may 2003. He performed for the first time in Lyon with local reggae DJ’s Bassta, Nassaboy and Rafik. Since then Stevie has supported Anthony B and Hexstatic with the High Five, and in May 2004 the Dynamics supported Jazzanova at the ’Nuit Sonores’ festival in Lyon. Then in August 2004 the Dynamics opened up the Cannes ’Pantiero’ festival alongside acts such as the Streets, Arrested Development, High Tone, Ty and Frederic Galliano & the African Divas.
Stevie appears from time to time as a guest on radio shows in Lyon, including Radio Brume’s ’La Spirale’ and Nassaboy’s Reggae Bashment. He also sings with reggae covers bands Asana Roots Nation and Natty Cool.
If you are interested in booking the Dynamics contact Stevie at: //stevielevi(at)hotmail.com// .... ONE LOVE!
CHECK OUT STEVIE LEVI’S BLOG MADE BY HOUCINE: http://stevielevi.blogspot.com/
