Oozeela

He has been titled The Snake Charmer, Don Corleone and Dominica’s Finest, but no other name has represented Oliver W. Severin more than the name “Oozeela” (pronounced OO – ZEE – LAH). Why such a peculiar name? Oozeela explains that it is to be broken into two to derive its true meaning; Oozee, coming from the word ooze, describes his slippery flow, in addition to the fact that he is “slowly leaking out” his full potential in music. La, short for LAH, implies his God – given natural listening ear, as lah is the 6th note of scale in tonic sol – fa.Oozeela currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he continues to entertain locally, using mostly his keyboard and vocal skills to woo crowds into his “musical realm”, but it was in the capital city of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roseau, he began his musical quest.“My mom used to overpower me with extra curricular activities” he explains, describing drama class, recorder lessons, karate class and piano with Mrs. Letang as his earliest forms of training. However, it was the St. Cecelia’s choir of his local Catholic Church that has conditioned his professionalism and installed in him the alto, soprano, tenor and bass harmonies that he trademarks in his music.While being a straight A student at Saint Mary’s Primary School, he participated in 4 junior monarch calypso competitions held by the Lions Club, and emerged in 2nd twice and 3rd twice. In his early high school years at Saint Mary’s Academy, he used his comedic acting skills in combination to his musical talent to emerge the 1st ever Mr. S.M.A victor.It was during those years that he and his colleagues created the Juvenilez band. They became popular citywide as they emulated to perfection the versatility of their idols the notorious W.C.K band. Eventually they were discovered by Maurice Aisles and Peter Walsh of the then famous Partnerz in Kryme band. He did his first national and international tours with P.I.K, touring islands such as Tortola and St.Lucia, spreading out as far as New York and Texas. Meanwhile his neighborhood friends began Warlox Krew, and independent hip hop and dancehall reggae group, and earned himself a major show at the Arawak House of Culture, promoting Scotia Bank products and services. He later joined the Bushtown Clan, a similar group, who popularized “reketeng music”, a modern version of Dominica’s native sounds.Eventually, the Snake Charmer became popular, and showcased his talent as a professional keyboardist, playing in the background for bands such as Ruff ‘n’ Ready, Swinging Starz, Raw Riddim International and The Connection band, while playing lead for W.C.K, More Dife, and P.I.K; whose 2003 release “Fast and Furious” earned them significant recognition as a Caribbean musical force.But Oozeela refused to stop there, returning to his birth place, Edmonton, where he took up the role of artist developer and Caribbean artist. Together with Jonny Aliby and the recently signed to Virgin Emi, Kreesha Turner, he created The Supreme Team. Their small organization hosted artists such as K- Riz, and gained Oozeela enough recognition that he was discovered by Edmonton’s flagship carriers for hip hop Politic Live. Together the group released Proveli Paragon’s “Rhythm and Poetry”, Dirt Gritie’s “This man’s life” and Bigga Nolte’s “Bigga Nolte is Tommy Kay”, which lead to the development of Music for Mavericks Ent. In 2007 Politic Live’s “Adaptation” lead to Canadian music award nominations for their anthem “Blocko” which earned heavy rotation various radios stations and on Much Music’s Much Vibe for numerous weeks.So whether it’s opening for Fabulous, The Game and Lloyd Banks, or doing his own show with Soulja Fyah, Don Corleone uses more than his connections to elevate himself in the music world and can still be heard in the back ground and elsewhere on almost every hip hop cd that emerges out of Edmonton.www.Myspace.com/oozeela [email protected] www.politiclive.com.. width="425" height="350" ..Created with mySpace Profile Editor