Steely & Clevie

Both Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson and Cleveland 'Clevie' Browne started to play music from a young age. They discovered they both had the same taste in music and did their first recording session together at Harry J's Studio. After those sessions, the both of them went their own musical way for a while. Steely became part of the Black Roots Players and the Roots Radics Band. Clevie became a member of The In-Crowd and The Studio One Band. He also played sessions for for Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd. They did play together again on Bob Marley's 'Stiff Necked Fools' and 'Trench Town'. Both Steely and Clevie had a keen interest in technology. They started building riddims with drummachines and synthesizers. When they heard producer Prince Jammy's 'Sleng Teng' riddim, they knew they were on the right path and soon became the inhouse band at Jammy's studio. Experimenting with different types of drum patterns led to a new style of music, dancehall and their riddim for Admiral Bailey's 'Punany' became the template for dancehall. In 1988, Steely and Clevie started their own label. Hits after hits followed and their 'Poco Man Jam' riddim became the template for reggaeton. Steely and Clevie were the dominant force in Jamaican music from 1985 until far in the '00s and they produced Jamaican super stars like Shabba Ranks, Super Cat and Sean Paul. Also pop artists like Billy Ocean, Caron Wheeler and No Doubt hired their services.