Macka B

Christopher MacFarlane was born in 1966 in Wolverhampton, England, near Birmingham. During his youth he played the violin and used to sing in the school choir. Reggae was his musical love. MacFarlane studied engineering and he served as an apprentice at a factory before he was laid off due to the factory shutdown. He devoted to perfecting his toasting skills with his main influence coming from U-Roy, I-Roy, Big Youth and Prince Far I. He formed the Exodus Sound System with some friends and he converted to Rastafarian. After travelling to Jamaica in 1982, he went back to England with perfected deejaying skills and the following year he won a competition for aspiring DJs. This led to him being featured on several radio stations and a gig with a band called ‘Pre Wax’ and their single “Maggie’s Letter” was a local hit. MacFarlane performed for several sound systems including Wassifa. His first solo record “Bible Reader” was released in 1985, produced by the London-based Fashion Records. MacFarlane signed with Mad Professors Ariwa label and released his debut album “Sign Of The Times” in 1986. He followed this up with 1987’s “We’ve Had Enough” album. 1988 brought “Looks Are Deceiving” which included the single “Unemployment Blues”. That same year, he traveled to Jamaica to make his first recording session there and this resulted in tracks such as “Slow Down Driver” and “Love It In Jamaica” both produced by Black Scorpio. In 1989, when he returned to England, he made a huge hit with “Dread A Who She Love”, a duet with female singer Kofi and he duplicated the feature with “Proud Of Mandela”. In 1994, MacFarlane released “Here Comes Trouble” which included songs like “Squeeze Me”. The other albums released after included “Discrimination”, “Hold On To Your Culture”, “Suspicious” and “Global Messenger”.