Born Michael Roze on July 11, 1957 in the notorious Western Kingston Jamaica ghetto of Waterhouse, Mykal (using the Ethiopian way of spelling his name) was surrounded and influenced in his home area of Waterhouse by many top singers, musicians, writers, and producers. It was on Jamaica's North coast hotel circuit where he first developed his musical abilities. Mykal returned to Kingston in 1975, recording a handful of songs for Niney The Observer, including the original version of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" which met with success for the up and coming singer. The next year he replaced Don Carlos as the lead singer of the Waterhouse group Black Uhuru which was comprised of Duckie Simpson, Puma Jones, and Mykal. The new Black Uhuru debuted on the Love Crisis album for Prince (now King) Jammy. Mikal's revolutionary songs sucs as "Shine Eye Gal," "Sensemelia," "General Penitentary," "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" were the reknowned anthems of Black Uhuru in the 80's and to this day. After joining forces with the legendary Sly and Robbie and signing to Island Records in 1980, Black Uhuru toured internationally, put out a number of successful albums, and won the first ever Reggae Grammy Award for the 1985 album "Anthem".
Mykal, the main songwriter in the Black Uhuru, left Uhuru aftert Anthem, and began to release material that he had been writing on his own Grammy Rose label. Mykal, sometimes known as the "Ruff Rose," signed to RCA in 1989 and in 1990 he teamed up with producers Noel Brownie, Tyrone Downie and Geoffrey Chung to release the album Proud. His follow up album, Bonanza, was released in 1992 and featured the hit "Ganga Bonanza" and later that year his contract with RCA was finished. In 1993, Mykal re-united in the studio withSly and Robbie, resulting in hits including "Mr Mention," "Monkey," and "Bad Boy" and in 1995 an album titled Mykal Rose: The TAxi Sessions."
With singles such as "Bad Boys," "Visit Them," and "Monkey Business" quickly hailed as modern roots classics, it wasnt long before Mykal began making the rounds in the Kingston and London studios, recording two albums for Niney The Observer and Heartbeat Records in the US, Mafia & Fluxy, Bunny Gemini of Record Factory, and on his own ruff Rose label. His single "Last Chance" with UK producers Ruff Cutt became his first UK number one hit in the summer of 1994, and his remakes of previous Uhuru hits with "I Love King Selassie," "Stalk of Sensimelia," "Shine Eye Girl (with Shabba Ranks) and "General Penitentary" all did well. In 1995 Mikal began collaborating with veteran producer Jah Screw and released the album "Nuh Carbon" which featured a duet with Barrington Levy. Rose also linked up with Mikey Bennett and the 4x4 Grafton Road Crew late last year for a collaboration CD and the single "Street Wise" which was a hit for Rose in 1996.
