Biography
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Born
25 December 1957 (age 66)
Anthony Johnson is a Jamaican reggae singer who is known for the 1980s hit song "Every Day is a Gunshot". Anthony is well known in Jamaica and on the European reggae circuit. He lives in the UK, but he does shows in France, Germany, Slovenia and Italy. He has a large discography.
Roy Anthony Johnson was born in Kingston, Jamaica at the Jubilee Hospital. His mother Cynthia Hamilton was a market woman by trade, and his father was a Barbadian who worked at the Sombero Club in Kingston. Anthony’s parents had three children together before separating. They also had other children separately, so Johnson has several siblings.
Johnson was raised by his mother in a tenement yards from the heart of Trench Town. Byah’s yard at 15½ James Street is significant in Johnson's development as an artist and musician. This yard doubles as a popular dancehall on weekends and holidays. Some of the big sound systems of the era played at dances in Byah's yard. As a child, Roy could not help hearing the hot Studio One and Treasure Isles hits of the 60s and early 70s. He was a singer in the vocal group Mystic Eyes doing a number of tracks for various producers.
"Everyday is a Gunshot" has become a dancehall anthem around the world. It was one of the first major hit to plea for a cessation of the so-called "shotta" mentality that now has a stranglehold on Jamaica.
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