One of Jamaicas many undiscovered talents can be found in Tone-i.Born Marcel Salmon to a carpenter and a custom broker Keith and Thelma Salmon.He was an avid football player from the young age of 9 and everyones entertainer at family functions.He was high school mates with Mikey General and a younger Ziggy and Stephen Marley.Influenced by the music of Dennis Brown,it wasnt long before he embraced the Rastafarian philosophy which represented the free man.After graduating high school he attended the College of Art,Science and Technology and became a member of the Twelve Tribes of Isreal organ who had members such as Dennis Brown,Judy Mowatt,Freddy McGregor and Brigadeer Jerry.
Tone-i first release was in 1989 with a song entitled Aristocrat and some promo tracks which he took to London in1990.After spending 1yr in England he returned to Jamaica to work for Tuff Gong and Peter Prendergast designing album covers and designing t'shirts for Bob Marley Museum.He soon became one of two lead singers for the Krossroads band that did the musical De Culcha Clash-a dub operetta(opera in reggae)which was held at the Little Theater and played three nights per week for six months.Krossroads also performed at the Ward Theater peace concert and the Institute of Jamaica lunchtime concert.The band then broke up because of a conflict of interest as Tone-i wanted to work with a band of the same Rastafarian conviction.Tone-i formed a group called InI with Leo Hall the other lead singer of the previous band and went on to appear on the Tastee Talent show as guests.InI joined forces with a band The Sounds of Rainbow and performed at Haile Selassie centenary show at Jam World in 1993.Although with InI,Tone-i was also doing several solo performances all of Jamaica,interviewed with Elise Kelly on Irie FM,performed on Sting 95 and Here I Come concert held at the Mirage nightclub and headlining Barrington Levy and Peter Metro.Tone-i and Leo recorded a cd called Rocking Time for Danny Breakingridge of upstairs music in Maimi in 1996.Things was not going the way Tone-i had planned and he migrated to New York where he did a couple recordings for Barry u records in Brooklyn.Tone-i took a break from the music to attend to family commitments.
After ten years of absense,Tone-i has emerged again.Now living in Atlanta he has done some appearances with the SWATT band(one of Atl.top reggae bands),the most recent show being the Ethiopian Mellinium show in downtown Atlanta where he was met with rave reviews.Tone-i is now looking to get back in the studios to do some recordings and taking it to the streets.Tone-i has certainly paid his dues...Rasta bless
Layout by CoolChaser
