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March 14, 2008
Busy Signal still "Steppin Out"
By: Joseph Cunningham
Busy Signal – born Reanno Gordon – started singing spiritual hymns at his mother's church and that was where he earned his first encore.
He recalls, "When church was over, I would sit on the corner with my
friends and alter the words of the church hymns." He also performed at
school, beating his fists in time on his desk and deejaying Bounty Killer's songs (he claims to know all of Bounty's lyrics) before progressing to his own material.
Since emerging on the Dancehall scene in 2003, Busy Signal's undeniable talent and lyrical dexterity has taken him quickly to the forefront. His breakthrough single "Step Out" was one of Dancehall's hottest songs for 2005.
The name Busy Signal is an alias which was given to him by a friend because of his constantly busy persona. He recalls that from a younger age he had always been on the move, always conducting some kind of business in an attempt to break into the music biz.
Since his break came, Busy Signal has taken a different approach. "I choose to record songs with concepts attached to them on purpose...I don't try to voice on every rhythm that is out there."
His first song to get national attention was "Born and Raised," a song in which he highlights some of the gritty realities of Jamaica. "Even though I was an unknown artist and there was no-one else on the riddim, the track got good airtime which encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing." He continued, "Producers don't want to give young artists a break more time, and with the pressure they get from VP and Greensleeves to make sure they have the so-called 'A-list' of artists pon dem riddim - young artists can get stifled. I just work hard on putting creative flows and melodies together and so far people have been feeling it."
Already with a big following worldwide, Busy doesn't see his music as stopping in Jamaica. A slew of Busy Signal mix CDs flooded the streets from Halfway Tree to Brixton to Flatbush and beyond, creating and spreading the hype that lead to Busy being the strongest young artist to emerge from 2005.
Busy's self-production and businesslike approach to the industry has seen him already launch his own label, Network Records. The first releases, "Tell Santa Dis" and "Where I'm From" are distributed worldwide and are selling well.
The end of 2005 saw Busy Signal garner immense critical success from show-stealing appearances on all the major stage shows across Jamaica, including the Smirnoff Experience alongside Sean Paul, Bobby Valentino and others, as well as Island Explosion, Camp Fire and West Kingston Jamboree. And of course there was the already-legendary debut appearance at 6.45am on the toughest stage in the world – Sting.
Busy Signal continues to do extremely well today and at the recently held Reggae Academy Awards, he copped the award for Best Solo Male Dancehall Vocalist, at the end of only his second full year as a mainstream artiste. His slew of hits in 2007, "The Days," "Evil," "Nah Guh A Jail" and others justified the award.