Edi Fitzroy
| Edi Fitzroy | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Fitzroy Edwards |
| Born |
17 November 1955 Chapelton, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica |
| Died | 4 March 2017 (aged 61) May Pen, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica |
| Genres | Reggae |
| Occupation(s) | Singer/songwriter |
| Years active | 1975–2017 |
| Labels | Musical Ambassador Alligator VP RAS Confidence |
Fitzroy Edwards (17 November 1955 – 4 March 2017), better known by his stage name Edi Fitzroy, was a Jamaican reggae singer, active from 1975 but best known for his work during the dancehall era.
Edwards was born on 17 November 1955 in Chapelton, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, and attended Chapelton All-Age and Clarendon College. He was exposed to music from an early age via his father Vasco Edwards playing records for a sound system. After studying accounting at the West Indies Commercial Institute, he took a job as an accounts clerk with the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation while also singing in his spare time. His recordings came to the attention of Mikey Dread, a radio presenter at the station, and with Dread's assistance he released his first single, "Miss Molly Colly", which was a top ten hit in Jamaica in 1978. Further hits followed and Fitzroy toured the United Kingdom with Dread in 1978, supporting The Clash.
In the early 1980s, Fitzroy worked with producers such as Lloyd Norris, and Trevor Elliot (who produced the singer's debut album Youthman Penitentiary (1982)).Check For You Once (1982) topped the Jamaican albums chart for four weeks. He performed at Reggae Sunsplash in 1984, returning in 1986, 1988, 1991, and 1993, and also performed at Sunsplash USA in 1988.
Fitzroy's lyrics led to him becoming renowned as one of Jamaica's most socially conscious singers, with themes including equality for women, and he won a Rockers Award in 1984 for Most Conscious Performer for his "Princess Black" single that celebrates black women (which he wrote for his mother). He enjoyed a major Jamaican hit with "The Gun", and he contributed to the "Land of Africa" charity single in aid of the Ethiopia famine appeal, along with Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor and others, and Fitzroy became a director (along with Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, Michael "Ibo" Cooper, and Orville Tyson) of the Music Is Life organization, with the aim of making a more lasting contribution toward's Africa's plight.
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