“Murder She Wrote” – Chaka Demus & Pliers’ signature song – was a testament to perseverance. Listen to Chaka Demus & Pliers on Apple Music and Spotify. Solely produced by iconic Jamaican duo Sly & Robbie, the album spawned six Top 40 UK hits: the flirty “Tease Me,” “She Don’t Let Nobody” (a soulful cover of Curtis Mayfield’s 1981 hit), “Gal Wine,” “Twist and Shout” (a cover of the Isley Brothers’ 1962 classic), the R&B-inspired “I Wanna Be Your Man,” and “Murder She Wrote.” The following year, the pair released Tease Me (known as All She Wrote in the United States).

After releasing a few albums on local Jamaican labels in 1992, Chaka Demus & Pliers signed to Mango Records (a subsidiary distributed by Island Records). The duo’s prior music business experiences, along with a pop-minded reggae-dancehall fusion sound, helped them gain overseas attention. Chaka Demus & Pliers, a duo composed of deejay Chaka Demus (born John Taylor) and singer Pliers (born Everton Bonner), officially emerged in 1991 after separate solo careers. Back in the early 90s, however, roots-reggae traditionalists were still trying to wrap their head around the brash new sound.Īrtists like Shabba Ranks, Beenie Man, and Buju Banton encapsulated dancehall’s rowdy nature with their explicit lyricism, but a singular duo helped catapult the genre past Caribbean shores. Dancehall music has undergone multiple waves of popularity in the US since its birth in the late 70s from the early 00s takeover with Sean Paul, Elephant Man, and Shaggy, to Rihanna, Drake, and Daddy Yankee putting their own spin on the genre in the 2010s.

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