Spanner Banner & “Prezident Brown “Who’s Gonna Save You” (1996)

@LeoOReggio
Website: https://leosretroreggaestore.company.site/
I produced and directed this one for Chris Blackwell’s Island Records. We shot it in Port Antonio, Portland, downtown Kingston and off Little Kew Road, Kingston, Jamaica.

Spanner Banner (Joseph Bonner) was born on 6 February 1959 in Rock Hall, St. Andrew, Jamaica. The brother of fellow reggae stars Pliers, Richie Spice, and Snatcha Lion, Bonner began his career in the late 1980s on the Bidia sound system in St. Andrew, and had hits with songs such as “Life Goes On” with producer Winston Riley. He co-wrote Chaka Demus and Pliers’ chart-topping “Tease Me”, and rose to prominence himself in the mid-1990s with albums on RAS (Now and Forever) and Island Jamaica (Chill), working with Sly and Robbie on the latter. He went on to release the Real Love album in 2001 on Heartbeat Records, featuring contributions from Tanya Stephens, Lady Saw, and Sean Paul among others.

After relocating to England for a few years he returned to Jamaica and found success again. In 2009 he returned to the charts with the Donovan Germain-produced “Rolling Stones”, and won the ‘Biggest Comeback Artiste’ award at the 2010 EME Awards. In 2011 he set up the Bonner Yard Productions record label.

Fitz Albert Cotterell was born in Johnny’s Hill district on the Bullhead Mountain, Jamaica in the mid-1960s and raised in Oracabessa, St. Mary. He built up a reputation by performing on local sound systems throughout the 1980s, under various names including Junior Ranking, before starting his recording career in the late 1980s. He was given the name Prezident Brown by producer and sound system operator Jack Ruby, who made him the resident deejay on his Hi-Power sound system. Early singles included “Tears” and “Everything Is Right” (with Jack Radics) and (Professor Frisky)and all-time Jamaican favourite song “Mickey Mouse” on the Digital B label. His lyrics concentrate on “cultural” themes. He broke through to a wider audience with performances in 1995 at the Reggae Sumfest and Reggae Sunsplash festivals. He recorded the anti-drugs song “Blow Your Nose” with Everton Blender, and “Wrong or Right”, which received an international daytime radio play. He was also featured on “Black and Proud” on the Steel Pulse album Rage and Fury. He collaborated with Anthony Red Rose and Anthony Malvo on “Red Alert”, which topped the Jamaican singles chart, and his continuing success saw him sign to Chris Blackwell’s Island Jamaica label, although an album recorded for the label was never released.

He toured the United States in 2002, playing 46 shows including an appearance at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, and toured the US again in 2009.