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Born Jermaine Sheldon Harvey, April 18 th 1975 in a little country district called Mount Pleasant in the beautiful parish of Portland, Jamaica. His great passion for music was nourished by his family, Jamaica’s rich history and unique combination of preserving traditional values together with a vibrant and creative musical scene. As a child he would mimic musicians and display his artistic side by making sound system from mud (clay). Even before learning to walk and talk properly Webley was a very popular baby, entertaining folks in the district with his distinctive dancing, singing and musical skills. The name WEBLEY was given to him by his uncle based on Jamaica’s culture where most children were given a pet name (alias), which stayed with him upon till today.
During his tenure at the Titchfield High School he proudly represented his school and parish Portland in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Annual Festival (JCDC), performing as a rapper and a hip-hop/pop dancer where he successfully won two gold medals.
After completing high school, he migrated to Barbados in 1992 where he started his professional career as a disc jockey and working in his family owned record store named Virgo International. Webley utilized this opportunity to better develop his vocals by singing over riddims (instrumentals) from some of his musical influential artistes such as Dennis Brown, Barrington Levy, Delroy Wilson, Gregory Isaacs, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke amongst others which sparked his passion for song writing.
Webley’s talent was recognized by his uncle Gary Riley who wrote his first song ‘African Princess’, which was recorded in Barbados for a compilation album entitled ‘Backyard Riddims’, produced by ace producers John Roett and Mickey Hulsmier. He later wrote and recorded ‘Genie’, which was a big hit in Barbados in 1996 on another compilation album entitled ‘Baje Roots’, produced by Deepu Panjwani and Skule Bwoy.
In late 1996 Webley went back to Jamaica where he wrote his second song “TELL ME” which led to him collaborating with producers Jelanie Thompson and Richard Small in 1997. This explosive reggae single brought him to the attention of the Reggae Lovers Rock crowd because of the smoothness of his tone and similarity to two of Jamaica’s Reggae Icons Sanchez and the late great Garnet Silk.
Webley has performed at some of the well-known musical events in Jamaica and Barbados, including Jamaica International Reggae Day, Jamaica Festival Road Shows, RETV Unplugged, Jamaica Hylton Hotel and Barbados Crop Over Festival, performing alongside artistes such as Statement, Rupert (Rupee) Clarke, Spragga Benz, Cocoa Tea, Peter Ramm, Bounty Killer, Allison Hinds amongst others.
In 2013 Webley visited the United States where he was given the opportunity to perform at multiple events, television appearances and radio broadcasts.
Webley’s songs reflect vocal diversity, however he manages to maintain an original and positive lyrical content. In 2014 Webley was ranked by (AIRM) Association of Independent Reggae Music in New York, in the top 10 Independent Reggae artiste to expect great things from in the near future. He continues to promote his EP and is currently working on new materials to help bring authentic Reggae Lovers Rock music to the world.
Webley Biography