You don't have to worry about deejay Frisco Kid being "Ready For The Video Lights." He has years of experience behind him to handle it.
Frisco joined the Shocking Vibes Crew earlier in last year. A timely addition to the hottest group of dancehall artists currently making the rounds. This new develpoment has given him the exposure which was sorely missing from his early years in the business and now he looks all set to assume the role most experts have always figured was destined for him: To join the top deejays at the head of the line.
Born Steve Wray in West Kingston, he started deejaying at Kingston Secondary School as a teenager, but it was to take him years and much trial to get a break as a professional. First he thought of switching to horse racing and become a jockey at Caymanas Park, but after he witnessed a horse throw an apprentice, he didn't bother.
He went back to deejaying, working a number of small sound systems in the Portmore area without much success, and decided to move back to West Kingston. Back in the city, he decided to try making it as a motor vehicle mechanic with the help of a friend named Cartoon. He got a job of driving a Nissan pick-up, picking up staff and things for his boss. That's when he met father Romey, owner of Exodus Nuclear, the hot clash sound system from the city and decided to call himself Parro Kid.
He then began to call himself Frisco Kid, because nothing was going for him with Parro Kid, and went to Jammy's studios in Waterhouse to do some specials for Exodus.
He recalled that it was a nice piece of food, referring to the money he was paid for the job, and recalling that that was the first money he made out of the business.
Encouraged by that development, he began moving with the crowd at the hot dubplate studio, Arrows in East Kingston. However, things didn't work out as well as he had anticipated, primarily because he didn't have a hit tune or a name.
But he did meet some friends. One night they told him about a Shocking Vibes Session at Penthouse studios and he went there, uninvited, begging for an oppertunity to perform. The engineer wasn't interested in nobodies, but Round Head had a name already and insisted that they give Frisco a break.
Frisco recorded a tune called "Dance Again" and the studio literally caught a fever as he did the tune. When the song was released it created quite a stir in the dancehall, especially a combination he did with Terror Fabulous, which became a virtual dancehall anthem.
This opened quite a few doors for him, and he was in demand in the dancehalls and dub cutting studios. But when the novelty of his first hit wore off, he found himself back to square one, and began wondering what to do now! Worst, deejays began to call him one tune DJ.
Fortunately for him one night, he had travelled to Black Scorpio's studio with Terror Fabulous to voice some specials for Stone Love. The session was cancelled and since Terror Fabulous lived in Portmore, to which he had returned decided to travel with him. They ended up however at Penthouse where Dave Kelly was producing some songs for his Madhouse label on the memorable "Pepperseed" rhythm.
"When I heard the rhythm, my ears cock up like antennae, he said." The tune he recorded that night was "Big Speech," was the second wind he needed. He hasn't looked back since that tune was released in 1993. Since then he had numerous hits, including "Step Up Inna Life," "Wackinews," "Videolight," and since lately "Ramocan," Tired Body," and "Gal A Di Clothes."
He is currently working on his first album, which he expects will consolidate his position as the hottest new DJ.
