ALOZADE

Biography

‘Yeeh It is I De Alozade’, sounds familiar right?, well those are the popular introductory words by one of the most talented deejay coming out of Kingston, Jamaica, Michael Sterling aka Alozade. The young deejay erupted on the music scene in 1999 with a song called ‘Street Dreams’ recorded on the Crash rhythm for Byron Murray’s In The Streets Records label. The song did well on the local charts and signaled the arrival of this gifted deejay in the dancehall arena.

Armed with his ‘throaty’ voice, unique toasting and ‘poster- boy’ image, Alozade seized the initiative and took the dancehall by storm, consistently unleashing hits after hit. Prior to that, having had a burning desire to make it in the music business as a deejay, the former Ardenne Extension High student voiced his debut single ‘Top Of The Line’ for the Stone Love label. He then did ‘Mr. Mention’, for the African Star label and gained much needed recognition for those efforts.

It was shortly after, that he linked up with Byron Murray at In The Streets Records where he recorded the big hit song ‘Sweet Dreams’. The song propelled the young deejay into stardom as it became very popular throughout the dancehall circles. Alozade showed that he was no one hit wonder by scoring another hit song for In The Street Records, this time with a song titled ‘Under Mi Skunk’.

In the year 2000 he teamed up with producer Louis ‘”Flabba” Malcom and did the monster hit song ‘Bad Man Nuh Pet Gal’ on the ‘infectious’ hurricane rhythm. That song created waves for the summer of that same year both locally and overseas. ‘Bad Man Nuh Pet Gal’ up to present time, is seen as an anthem in the dancehalls as it never seizes to draw a big response wherever it is played.

Alozade has always been a hit with the teens, as he explained, “I guess this appeal is a natural one because they have been seeing a lot of overseas artistes and just tell themselves that this is what they are looking for. When an artist can command a high level of respect from teenagers, it’s considered a plus to his or her career. An artist has to keep reaching out for the larger market. The teens contribute to a large share of the market.”

Alozade kept the ‘Hit Train’ rolling with a song titled ‘Jamaica’, done on the King Of Kings label where he expresses his love for his country and ‘More Woman’ on the C J label. His repertoire of hit songs over the years has kept him in high demand to perform at major events both locally and overseas. He has made his mark performing at several stage shows right across Jamaica including top events such as Sumfest, Sting and Champions In Action. Alozade has also performed extensively in North America, the Caribbean and Europe which he toured in 2004 performing in countries such as Italy, France, Hungary, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland.

In 2004 he ventured into the world of music production and launched his label called South Block. Like King Midas with the golden touch, he reaped success on his first project which was the Chrome rhythm. Alozade, the producer, scored two number one hits on the rhythm with ‘Inna Har Heart’ by Capleton and ‘Keeping It Jiggy’ by Elephant man.

Alozade soon followed up with another successful production, this time a ‘one drop’ rhythm called “Bingie Trod”. A song from the rhythm, Jah Cure’s ‘Hi Hi’ hit number one on BBC’s Reggae Charts and other songs such as ‘All Day All Night’ by Richie Spice and Buju Banton’s ‘Closer To You’ created a big impact in Europe and Japan.

In the latter part of 2005, Alozade stormed back in the lime light as a deejay with the monsters hit song ‘Bad Out Deh’ . The song was recorded on the ‘Baddest Thing’ rhythm’ for producer Richard ‘Shams’ Brownie. ‘Bad Out Deh’ which features singjay Chico and Kiprich is presently creating a stir throughout the world. It is a ‘must play’ at local and overseas dancehall events and has elevated the artiste once again into the ‘big times’. “I feel real good about the success of the song, it has done a lot for me where my career is concerned,” he said. “My fans love it and I feel good about that.”

Following the success of the song “Bad Out Deh”, Alozade has also been creating a storm on stage. He blew away his audience performing at the recently held Asylum Anniversary, Stone Love Anniversary, Camp Fire, Western Jamboree and Fire Links Anniversary show among other top events.

New releases such as ‘Feminine Gender’ on Don Corleon’s ‘Sweat’ rhythm, ‘I feel The Pain’ on the popular Gangsta Rock rhythm and ‘Screw Face’ on the ‘Punaany - Rebirth’ rhythm is also doing very well for the artiste. “For the year 2006 and beyond, I will be hitting my fans with some more ‘wicked’ tunes so just keep listening,” Alozade said.