Biography
Yellowman was born Winston Foster in 1959 (1956 is also mentioned as a possible year of birth) in Kingston. His upbringing was at the Maxfield Home orphanage, Eventide Home and the prestigious Alpha Boys School. The stigma of being poor and an albino (the lack of pigment in skin) was evident which made Yellowman overcompensate by being as cocky as possible, something that later proved positive as a deejay.
In 1978 he won the talent contest ad Tastee Patties in Kingston and by 1979 Yellowman was playing with the Aces International Sound System. In August of 1981 he won the Festival 81 Deejay Contest held at Skateland (beating Nicodemus, Johnny Ringo and Toyan in the process) and later that year he joined Gemini sound system. In 1982 he featured at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival that catapulted him to reggae stardom that in Jamaica was only second to that of Bob Marley.
The 80's saw him often sparring together with the deejay Fat Head, both on set and on record.
In 1986 King Yellow was diagnosed with jaw cancer and the doctors stated that he had only six months left to live. He went through surgery and stepped back from the music. Fortunately the surgery helped and he could return to the music a couple of years later.
Sources
- Steve Barrow And Peter Dalton, Reggae The Rough Guide, 1997 (Rough Guides)
Links
- http://www.kingyellowman.com - Official Website
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