HALF PINT BIO

It’s easy to see why vertically challenged Jamaican singer Half Pint is one of the pioneers and shining stars of dancehall reggae. His voice is warm, yet commanding and his melodies are both instantly appealing and timeless. Throughout the ‘80s, he wrote and released many classics, including “Greetings,” “Just Be Good,” “Crazy Girl” and “Winsome,” which was later covered by the Rolling Stones. All of these songs and numerous other classics resurface in a new form on his remix album Past to Present.

Inspired by the flood of remixes that have saturated the dance scene in the past few years, Half Pint decided in early 2005 to create his own album with some extremely talented individuals from the hip-hop and R&B communities. So, he joined forces with such names as Public Enemy’s rapmaster Chuck D, red hot hip-hop producer Pete Miser, soaring R&B vocalist Maya Azucena and political icon Abiodun Oyewole of the lost Poets and began to write and record. Collectively, they created Past to Present, a record that simultaneously introduces the uninitiated to the sweeping history of Half Pint, and updates his sound to keep pace with the style and technology of the present day.

“I’ve been around for more than 20 years and a lot of people have heard my songs, but with this album I feel like I’m making my debut in the R&B and hip-hop world,” Half Pint says about. “As much as six or seven years ago, people would sometimes be like, ‘Pint, when are you going to do a remix of this and that?’ and I’d always say, “Soon.’ And then, I finally felt, ‘Okay, now it’s time.’”

Throughout Past to Present, clacking drum machines, echoey digital keyboards, sensuous R&B female singers and percussive rappers blend with Half Pint’s soothing voice and organic music, creating a powerful blend as refreshing as an ice-cold beverage in a heat wave. On “Freedom Fighter,” he and producer Pete Miser contrast highly melodic lines about revolution with Chuck D’s antagonistic anti-government rants, and bind the two with deep basslines, a bobbing beat and ringing guitar stabs. “Chuck D has been listening to my songs for a long time and was like ‘Yeah, Half Pint.’ So, he was very interested in getting that collaboration going,” Half Pint says.

Elsewhere, producer Mark Vidler turns “Crazy Girl” into an hazy, echoey dub number treated with galactic noises, tribal percussion and sporadic horn samples. The vocals on the song are enhanced by young, but old-school soul singer Maya Azucena. Half Pint took a similar approach for the Dvo-produced “Winsome,” which features co-vocals by upcoming urban female artist Dia, who feeds off Half Pint’s voice to create a call-and-response session that’s like an intimate conversation.

“She reminds me of Eve or something,” Half Pint says. “She’s a really good performer and she can write really well. She listened to what I said in the song and wrote around it in a really interesting way.”

While he produced two tracks, “Just Be Good” and “Freedom Fighter,” Pete Miser got to step behind the mike as well to rap on “One Big Family” alongside Half Pint, Coral, TuFace and Hum Su. “He’s the real, real deal,” says Pete Miser of his experience working with Half Pint. “Living in NY, there’s tons of reggae, but when you work with a cat like him there’s a musical integrity that shines through. And his voice is mindblowing. As a producer I didn’t have to EQ it or do anything to it. It just sounded amazing coming out of him.”

“He’s a classic,” adds Dvo. “When he gets into the studio he has such a commanding voice that you can’t ignore it, whether he’s singing a love song or about something political. I believe in future years, he’s gonna be remembered like a Bob Marley as an artist that had that kind of staying power.”

While Half Pint wanted to express himself naturally on Past to Present, he wasn’t afraid to experiment and, with the help various noted producers, he indulged every musical whim. Katlayss helped him turn “Go Back Home” into a hyper-kinetic dance track with skittering electronic beats and a pulsing synthesizer and Pete Miser treated “Just Be Good” with guitar fingerpicking, melodica and samples. “We didn’t want to approach this record in a typical reggae way,” Pete Miser explains. “A lot of the tracks don’t actually fit the reggae world at all. ‘Just be Good’ doesn’t even have drums and I manipulated the sound of a music box that’s borderline electronica. But Half Pint’s vocals are so purely reggae that no matter what you do to the tracks, you can’t hid Half Pint’s essence.”

Born in 1961, Half Pint (a.k.a. Lindon Roberts) grew up in West Kingston and started singing when he joined his school choir. In 1976, after finishing school, he decided to become a professional musician. His first recording session was in 1983 with Prince Jammy and his debut single “Sally” came out at the end of the year. Half Pint’s follow-up single “Winsome” was the first of many hits with Jammy. He released his first mini-album, Money Man Skank in Jamaica in 1984 and the UK-only release One in a Million followed later in the year. In 1985, after touring with Sly & Robby, Half Pint recorded several singles with them, then he worked with George Phang, who produced his most groundbreaking song to date, “Greetings.”

In addition to featuring Half Pint’s uncanny singing voice and lyrical flow, “Greetings” explored the type of digital production that would herald the rage style. But regardless of the flavors he was exploring, Half Pint was always passionate, soulful and sometimes bracingly political. With Past to Present, Not only does Half Pint stretch his musical boundaries to reach a new audience, he also re-addressing themes of individuality, family stability, and interpersonal respect in songs such as “Victory” and “Greetings” in an effort to help educate a misinformed or misguided community. While he admires many of the rappers that are shaping and molding contemporary pop culture, he is wary of the messages some of them convey.

“So many rappers are just outrageous,” he says. “There’s just raging and rebelling and they’re not realizing it’s not getting them anywhere. It’s better to be cool, calm and collective and do your homework and deal with one situation at a time. A lot of rap is still disrespectful to women, also. They’re saying things like, ‘Alright, Mama, do your thing. Keep selling your body.’ And I’m like, ‘Whoaaaah. No, mama don’t sell your body. Stick to me and let’s try to work things out without resorting to that.”

Perhaps the cut that best sums up Half Pint’s message is “One Big Family,” on which he and his co-vocalists call for unity through understanding, acceptance and peace. “Like roses need water, we all cling together,” Half Pint sings before launching into the chorus, “We are one big family, living in harmony.”

“You can have everything in the world – money, fame, girls – but you don’t really have nothing,” Half Pint explains. “But when you have your family, that’s where it’s really at.”