Delly Ranx to do it for Tiger
JAMAICA’S music history may be dotted with dancehall rivalries but there are occasions when artistes band together to tend to their ailing members. The latter is the case for deejay Tiger.
Several entertainers are preparing to do a benefit concert to raise well-needed funds for his medical expenses, arising from a his second stroke recently.
The show, dubbed Premier Restaurant and Lounge, is slated for Atlanta, Georgia. Among the line-up are Anthony Malvo, Pressure BussPipe, and Delly Ranx.
Delly Ranx said he had to be part of Sunday’s line-up.
“I have grown to respect Tiger because he is an entertainer in every sense of the word. He is a crowd-pleaser who is prepared to give his best at every event, no matter the crowd size. No matter how bad your day is, you can bet your last dollar that Tiger will change your gloom with laughter. And, he is also an educator because there is always something new to learn from his performance,” Delly Ranx told the Jamaica Observer.
Delly Ranx explained that one trait of a great performer is someone able to connect with the audience —and, Tiger was one such entertainer.
“Tiger did songs which the ordinary people could identify with because, like Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley, he uses the Jamaican vernacular to attract even the five-year-old who could be later heard singing his songs. Take, for example, one of my favourite songs like No Wanga Gut. This was comical but the magic of this [song] is everyone knew someone who was a ‘wanga gut’ and almost everyone, including the tiny tot, was singing the song so it became a big hit,” he said.
Delly Ranx says he first met Tiger in the early 90s at a recording studio on Windward Road in Kingston.
“This was Arrows Recording Studio, where a number of artistes hoping to do dub-plates for sound system operators [would] hangout. These were cutting edge songs sometimes used in sound clashes,” he said.
Delly Ranx recalls sharing the stage with Tiger on numerous occasions, both here and aboard. Local shows included Teensplash, Sumfest, and Sting.
“He [Tiger] was a fashionista so you could learn a lot from someone who was clean, neat and creative even when he was off stage,” he said.
Tiger’s first hit Jamaican charts came in 1986 with the song No Wanga Gut. He had several ‘chart-riders’ that decade before suffering a brief decline. In January 1993 he was struck from his motorcycle in St Andrew. The accident resulted in him suffering extensive head injuries and he has been in and out of hospital since.
Delly Ranx, born Delroy Foster, came to prominence with Never Done in 1992. He is known for such songs as What ah Gal, No More Than Yuh, and Headache ft Elephant Man.
As a producer he is highly recognised for producing Sean Paul’s Ganja Breed ft Chico, which appeared on Sean Paul’s Grammy-winning Dutty Cup album; Popcaan’s Family, and Mavado’s Weh Dem A Do. His latest is the Cream Soda rhythm.