BORN IN BERMUDA ON JUNE 8,1974 AT THE KING EDWARD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL. RONAE' BURGESS ATTENDED PURVIS PRIMARY AND ST. GEORGE'S SECONDARY SCHOOL. HIS FAVORITE SUBJECTS WERE ENGLISH, ENGLISH LANGUAGE, READING AND SPELLING- GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL IN 1991.SLANGER CREDITS HIS FATHER-A TOP SKILLED CARPENTER- FOR INTRODUCING HIM TO THE MUSIC OF THE HON. ROBERT NESTA MARLEY WHEN HE WAS A CHILD. MARLEY WAS PLAYED ALL DAY EVERYDAY, IN THE HOUSE LIKEWISE HIS CAR. MARLEY WOULD LATER BECOME SLANGER'S MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURE AND HERO IN LIFE. IT WOULD ALSO BE SLANGER'S FATHER WHO WOULD TAKE HIM TO JAMAICA FOR THE FIRST TIME AS HE HIMSELF, HAD BEEN TO THE LAND OF WOOD AND WATER AT LEAST A DOZEN OCCASIONS. IN THE YEAR OF 1986, THE SONG THAT CAPTIVATED SLANGER WAS ENTITLED, "WHEN A MAN'S IN LOVE" BY YAMI BOLO. SLANGER WOULD TELL HIS PEERS - UNBEKNOWN TO THEM - THAT IT WAS HIM SINGING. BUT HE WOULDN'T DARE SAY IT WHEN OLDER PEOPLE WERE PRESENT, FOR HE KNEW THEY KNEW DIFFERENT.THIS FIRST TRIP TO JAMAICA JUST BEFORE HURRICANE GILBERT STRUCK THE BEAUTIFUL ISLAND WOULD PROVE VITAL FOR SLANGER. HUMBLED BY THE FREE SPIRT OF THE PEOPLE, THEIR CULTURE, FOOD AND MESMERISED BY THE SOUND OF REGGAE EVERYWHERE, HE DISCOVERED THAT THIS REALLY WAS THE LAND OF REGGAE! ONE NIGHT AT A STREET SIDE DANCE HE HEARD A SONG BY SHABBA RANKS CALLED "LOVE PUNANNY BAD", THIS SONG AND THE ARTIST EXCITED HIM AND MOTIVATED HIM MORE THEN EVER BEFORE. WHEN HE RETURNED TO BERMUDA HE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL MORE FIXATED ON SHABBA AND LEARNING HIS MUSIC MORE THEN HIS SCHOOL WORK. HE WAS THEN CHRISTENED WITH THE NAME SHABBA BY HIS CLASSMATES LIKEWISE THE TEACHERS.HE WOULD PERFORM SHABBA SONGS DURING SCHOOL AND COMMITT EVERY SHABBA ENTRY MOVE AND ANTIC.AROUND THE SAME TIME, HE BEGAN FREQUENTING AN AREA KNOWN AS GOVERMENT GATE, JUST OFF OF 42ND STREET. THERE SLANGER WOULD VIBE AND LISTEN TO ALL OF SHABBA'S MUSIC. THE AREA SOUND KNOWN AS NINJA MOVE HIFI WOULD CLASH OTHER SMALL SOUNDS IN THE AREA EVERY WEEKEND. HOWEVER, ONE FRIDAY NIGHT AT GOVERNMENT GATE, THE SOUND OWNER DECLARED TO ALL THAT IF THEY WASNT TAKING THE MIC TO SING OR DEEJAY THEY WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE. UP TO THAT POINT SLANGER OR JUNIOR SHABBA AS HE WAS NOW KNOWN, WAS MERELY AN IMPERSONATOR. THERE WOULD BE NO SHABBA SINGING TONIGHT. SLANGER HAD NO LYRICS OF HIS OWN THEREFORE HE WAS FORCED TO LEAVE. NATURALLY HE WAS ANGRY AND EMBARRASSED.HE WENT HOME THAT NIGHT AND WROTE TWO SONGS. WELL PREPARED HE RETURNED THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND ARMED AND READY. HE ANXIOUSLY WAITED FOR THE SOUND OWNER TO ANNOUNCE THAT IT WAS DEE-JAYING TIME AND ALL THOSE THAT DIDN'T HAVE THEIR 0WN STYLE WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE, BY NOW IT WAS MANDATORY. EVERYONE LOOKED AT SLANGER REMEMBERING THE EPISODE OF THE WEEK BEFORE. SLANGER, IN HIS USUAL TRICKERY LOWERED HIS HEAD WITH A SULLEN LOOK AND BEGAN TO MOVE TOWARD THE EXIT. IN AN INSTANCE, HE SPUN BACK AROUND, GRABBED THE MIC AND LAUNCHED INTO A TUNE ABOUT THE LADIES, MUCH TO THE DELIGHT AND APPROVAL OF THOSE IN ATTENDANCE. AFTER THAT, HE WOULD GO ON TO WRITE MORE SONGS BUT THEY ALWAYS WANTED TO HEAR THE FIRST ONE, "LOVE GIRLS." THAT WOULD BE THE ONLY PLACE SLANGER WOULD HARNESS HIS SKILLS OTHER THAN ON THE STREET CORNER. HOWEVER, HE DIDNT MOVE ANY FURTHER THEN THAT IN REGARDS TO PURSUING A CAREER, HE WAS CONTENT ON BEING UNDER SHABBA'S WING - STUDYING, MIMICKING AND OBTAINING EVERY PIECE OF SHABBA PARAPHERNALIA HE COULD GET HIS HANDS ON.HE WOULD RETURN TO JAMAICA A FEW YEARS LATER TO PURCHASE DUB PLATES FOR HIS NEIGHBORHOOD SOUND OGS GENESIS, THEN THE TOP SOUND IN THE LAND. THIS GAVE SLANGER THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET ARTISTS. BEING IN THE STUDIO AND OBSERVING HOW MUSIC IS RECORDED AND PRODUCED WAS INTERNALIZED. HE STUDIED THE ARTISTS EVERY MOVE AND NEW DEEP DOWN INSIDE, THIS IS WHAT HE WANTED TO DO. HOWEVER,THERE WAS ONE REGRET. SLANGER MET DJ PANHEAD AT THE STUDIO ONE DAY WHERE THE TWO REASONED AND HAD PICTURES TAKEN TOGETHER. PANHEAD HAD BEEN VERY OPEN AND WELCOME TO SLANGER, SO MUCH THAT HE INVITED HIM TO HIS HOME WHICH UNFORTUNATELY SLANGER WASN'T ABLE TO MAKE. 2 MONTHS AFTER SLANGER RETURNED TO BERMUDA HE RECIEVED THE DEVASTING NEWS THAT PANHEAD HAD BEEN GUNNED DOWN IN JAMAICA. THIS TRAGEDY STUNNED SLANGER, FOR PANHEAD HAD GIVEN HIM SO MUCH INSPIRATION AND SECONDLY, HE FELT BAD BECAUSE HE NEVER MADE IT TO HIS HOME, AN OFFER IN WHICH PANHEAD HAD INTIATED AND ARRANGED. SLANGER FELT PAIN FOR SOMEONE HE CONSIDERED A GOOD FRIEND AND SOURCE OF INSPIRATION. LATER ON, THIS WOULD BECOME A MOTIVATING FACTOR FOR SLANGER, HE WAS MORE DETERMINED TO FULFILL HIS OWN DREAM AS A DANCEHALL ARTIST, USING THE LOSS AND THE WORDS OF PANHEAD AS THE DRIVING FORCE. HOWEVER,BEFORE SLANGER COULD BEGIN MAKING INROADS AND SHAKE OFF THE SHABBA PHOBIA AND INVENT HIMSELF, HE WOULD MAKE A TERRIBLE CHOICE.THE SAME VIOLENT MANNER THAT HAD TAKEN HIS MENTOR'S LIFE, HE WOULD GO ON TO COMMITT - HE BEING THE PERPETRATOR. IN 1994 AT THE AGE OF 20, SLANGER WAS SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER AS A RESULT FROM A FIGHT HE HAD WITH ANOTHER MAN AT A CLUB. SINCE THE EARLY DAYS OF PRISON SLANGER HAS BEEN VERY BUSY WITH THE PEN AND PAPER, PERFECTING HIS CRAFT WHILST GETTING HIS LIFE IN ORDER. HEARING JAH CURE BIG HIM UP LIVE ON THE LOCAL RADIO STATION POWER 95 ONE EVENING FROM PRISON IN JAMAICA, ALSO TOUCHED AND MOTIVATED HIM IMMENSELY.AROUND THE SAME TIME HE WAS DRAWN INTO THE MUSIC OF SIZZLA WHO WAS JUST BEGINNING TO BUSS HIMSELF. SIZZLA WOULD PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN SHAPING SLANGER, NOT ONLY MUSICALLY BUT IN LIFE AND SPIRITUALLY AS WELL. AS SLANGER CONTINUED TO WRITE HE ALSO BEGAN TO PERFORM IN PRISON WHEN LOCAL SOUND SYSTEMS WOULD VISIT AND PLAY DURING THE HOLIDAYS. EVEN WHEN PLAYS WERE HELD IN THE PRISON CHAPEL, SLANGER WOULD USE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST HIMSELF WITH THE MIC ON STAGE. DURING THE SUMMER OF 2004 SLANGER HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO MEET SIZZLA WHILST THE ACE DEEJAY WAS ON THE ISLAND FOR A CONCERT. THAT PROVED TO BE SUCH A HIGHLIGHT AS THE TWO REASONED AND EXCHANGED CONTACTS.ENTER 2007 - SLANGER IS NOW ALLOWED TO RECORD WHILST INCARCERATED AND TAKES THE ISLAND BY TOTAL SURPRISE. FOR MOST THAT HEAR HIS SONGS ON THE RADIO AND PLAYED IN THE DANCE - DONT EVEN KNOW THAT IT'S ONE OF THEIR OWN. BUT THE FIRST SINGLE "HOW CAN I FORGET" ON THE DRUMLINE RIDDIM GAINED INSTANT POPULARITY. HIS STYLE UNIQUE IN ITS SOUND AND DELIVERY AND LYRICS VERY POTENT AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT, COMING FROM SOMEONE ON LOCKDOWN FOR MORE THEN A DECADE. HE USES THE SING-JAY STYLE EFFECTIVELY. AS WE STAY FOCUSED AND TUNE IN TO THIS TALENTED AND DETERMINED ARTIST, IT SHALL PROVE VERY INTERESTING AS WE SEE THAT THE FREEDOM FIGHTER HIMSELF HAS MUCH TO SAY.
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