Mr. Easy :

Artiste - Singer

Listen to an audio interview with Mr. Easy: 

In the early days of Stereo Mars, Mr. Easy was watching Ricky Tenn working the mic after Supercat’s time. Although Mr. Easy did dj (not yet singing) on Stereo Mars, his first real sound system work began with Barry G’s Wha Dat sound system.

At that time Mr. Easy was known as “Papa Izzy.” Mr. Easy doesn’t recall why people called him that – it’s just what people called him. It was not until Barry Dread of Living Room Studios heard Mr. Easy’s tune called “Rhinestone Cowboy” that Mr. Easy settled with his present title. “Rhinestone Cowboy” is a combination of the Glen Campbell tune with Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler,” but the hook went: “I’m Mr. Easy. Easy like Sunday mornin.’” That’s when Barry Dread said to Easy, “You have an easy goin’ kinda nature. You should be called ‘Mr. Easy!’” The name stuck.

Mr. Easy was born in Jamaica and as he grew up he spent time with relatives in New York. Frequently Easy would travel back and forth from Kingston to New York – attending school in New York. It was in 1986 in New York that Easy befriended Shaggy, Rayvon, Screechie Don, and dj Redd Foxx at an early age. Easy has maintained this connection with these artistes to date - another strong association for Mr. Easy.

Mr. Easy’s singing was developed during a visit to Atlanta with a local/neighborhood sound owned by Douglas. As a feature dj on Douglas’ sound, Easy began to sing various portions of vocals on riddims like “Answer” and “Throw Mi Corn.” Easy didn’t really know that he was singing, but it caught a friends ear and he encouraged Easy to continue the singing. As Easy began to sing, he received more and more success and he began to build on that success.

While in New York, Easy started to perform a reggae tune “Just Be My Lady” at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre. Warner Brothers records executives spotted Easy at The Apollo and that is how he came to be signed by Quest/Warner Brothers records under the direction of Quincy Jones. This collaboration produced the album entitles, “Call Me Mr. Easy.” Many of the tracks on the album were produced by Mikey Bennett and the album is still widely available today.
Now in 2004, it should be known that Mr. Easy has the rare ability to perform in both the hardcore dancehall league and with the stageshow singers – very effectively. Individually, a listener may never even know Easy’s ability to work in both worlds of music. As Mr. easy says:

I learned how to sin with pronunciation. I developed this style where I can sing this mellow stuff on a cool rub-a-dub riddim. I could actually jump on the Dave Kelly “Bruk Out” riddim and sing in dancehall style. The dancehall style is faster. When you sing on top of the riddim you have to keep up with that riddim. If you compare the “Bruk Out” riddim with the “Heavenly”, you see one is actually more lad back and one is more jump up.”

The following is a 2003 interview with Mr. Easy conducted by Rich Lowe of WRUW fm radio:

Q: Tell me about some of your recording activity over the past couple years. You have been very active, what is a highlight?

A: Red Foxx is the one who brought Shaggy to the studio and let Shaggy do “oh Carolina” and “Big Up, Big Up.” Me an’ Foxx back in Jamaica – we were doin’ a lot of combinations. We did something on the More Music label – that’s Flabba’s label. Flabba’s the guy who put out “Headache,” “Hurricane.” People have not been getting’ that whole heap of combination with the spice of a singer and a dj. A lot of djs in Jamaica, they are so influenced by rap [that] the dancehall music is lost in a way. So me and Foxx goin’ back to the old vibe. The American public like the real raw reggae. They don’t want you to come like yu gonna rap. That’s why Shabba was so successful, why Shaggy was so successful. These guys kept it real and they all had different styles. A lot of the djs now, they sound similar. They are in the same vein being influenced by MTV and BET. One time when Jamaica didn’t have BET, you just had to sit down and create. When you have this TV in front of you every day an’ you see all these people blinging, you feel like that’s the way to go. You are lost! You don’t have to cross over. Just let it happen itself.

Q: What is your strategy for the long term?

A: When you put yourself in a dancehall, dancehall is something that keeps an artiste alive. Most artistes who do lover’s rock – like Beres Hammond and all those guys, are comin’ from dancehall. O me, lover’s rock is like a maturity as you’re going along. I don’t want to be on stage when I’m 50 doin’ “A Lickle Boy Diss Me The Other Day” an’ all those songs. I wanna be doin’ songs like “Heavenly.” That what I’m gearin’ towards, where I can relax on stage and start fitting in to the age that I’m heading towards and the music should match up with the age.

Q: How does “Player Haters” and Freaky Lady” fit into the puzzle then? These are the sex songs.

A: Then you have the rude boy thing. When you go to the dancehall in Jamaica, you have the younger crowd who want to hear the raw stuff. In order to keep your name out there as an artiste, you have to make sure you give them what they want. You have to satisfy the two crowd. I’ve been blessed with the talent that I can do both of them, which balance me off. If you put Mr. Easy on stage with a Gregory Isaacs or a Freddie McGregor or Beres Hammond, Mr. Easy can perform in that type of music for that crowd. Then if you take Mr. Easy and put him in a dance with Beenie Man and Cobra and Lexus, Mr. Easy can swing into that crowd as well.

Q: In your success, what mistakes have happened?

A: If I could turn back the hands of time, the biggest mistake is when I sign with Quest/Warner Brothers. That really slow me down a lot. At the time when Shaggy was doin’ “Big Up, Big Up” an’ Foxx and Screechie was doin’ all them records, I couldn’t do the actual recording because of the contract.

Q: How long were you under contract?

A: Five years. It created a vibe so I couldn’t do nothin’, so that really slowed me down. At the time I sign the contract, I was doin’ well with Mikey Bennett, Shadow, Home T, and Two Friends label.

Q: What was the first time you knew your music was starting to hit the people?

A: I know Dave Kelly when Maxi Priest recorded “I Just Wanna Get Close To You.” Dave was an engineer – just comin’ up. Dave and Tony Kelly was on the road with Maxi Priest. Dave tell me any time I get off the label, I should come back to Jamaica and then we link up and do some work. After I got offa Quest I went back to Jamaica and stated vibin’ with Dave. He had a young cat, artiste around him called Baby Cham. He said he got this song called “Strange Thing Are Happening” – the name of the song is Funny Man.” He want me and Baby Cham to do it and we did it! The song really surprised me cuz I never really expect that song to really jump off. A lotta people know that song. [Sings two verse of song] That on the “Joy Ride” – Dave never topped that riddim.

Q: It was like an explosion. It was one of the biggest presentations of a riddim in recent history!

A: Definitely. When I’m doin’ a show right now, I have to start my show with “Joy Ride.” What it does is hypes the crowd – the whole place gets wrecked. That song was a mark.

Q: When was the first time you hear it on the radio?

A: I was in Jamaica. It’s three hours from Kingston to Westmoreland – it was in the Christmas season. Drivin’ to Westmoreland, you have to drive through these old towns like Old Harbor. Every time we pass through, all you could hear was [Makes beat of tune] “Strange things are happening…” It’s like this song buss, It’s gone!

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