Fitz Cotterell was born in 1965 in Clarendon. His mother called him Junior Ranking because he would grab the mic and chant at the schoolyard and country dances. Cotterell was born in an Adventist family and he was the only male child as his other three siblings were female. He was forced to leave school at a young age when his father died. In the music arena, he was first known as Slim Brown because of his resemblance to similar DJ and mentor, U Brown. His earliest influences were Jack Ruby who saw his potential and appointed him resident MC of his Hi-Power-Sound System. After Ruby’s death in 1989, Cotterell began recording for Grove Music. He later on moved to X-Rated label and he settled there. X-Rated produced his 2 albums titled “Big Bad” and “Talented”. His third album was produced by Bobby Digital titled “Original Blueprint”. Cotterell’s breakthrough album “To Jah Only” was released in 1998 for Kariang Records. In the 2000s, he worked with German based label Chet Records and he released the album “Generation Next” which is distributed by Sony Germany. In 2002, he embarked on a Summer Tour “Unleash The Lion” and it consisted of 46 shows with the orchestra of Judah put together by Jahmani Productions. The tour was all over the US including performances at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and Reggae On The River. Jahmani Productions also released “Showcase Vol 1, 2 and 3”. In 2009, Cotterell recorded the album “Common Prosperity” on Axxtive Records and in 2012 the album “Sound Is From Creation” came and he toured the US again. That same year, he released the EP “Do They Work” on Soundkillaz Music. Cotterell released another EP “Journeyman” through Zojak World Wide.
