KING TURBO SOUND
F
ounded in October 1989 in
Malvern, a suburb in east
Toronto; what was once a high
school party Sound has now
emerged to become one of the
most influential Reggae DJ units to
come out of Canada. Andrew
“Slingshot” Dillon and Ricky “Ricky
Turbo” Brown never imagined that
what started in a Malvern
basement party would create such
a legacy with many milestones and
achievements.
To say King Turbo has been
making moves is putting it mildly.
They were the first reggae DJ
group to break down the barriers of
the then unattainable downtown
club venues. King Turbo was the
Sound that also created the Mega
Mixes, which we call today remixes
and mashups. “We started remixing
from 1991 with the first Mega Mix”,
said Ricky Turbo. “It was so popular
that we did a second Mega Mix on
the Taxi Gangs Santa Barbara and
that’s when we took off”, said
Slingshot. King Turbo has also
pioneered their own shows on radio
starting with The Side 3 Show and
The Monday Morning Ride both on
The University of Toronto Radio
C.I.U.T. 89.5FM. They also had an
online radio program called
Snakey’s Corner back in 1999
when using the internet as a form of
social medium was still in its
infancy. Spex and Shooks who both
came from the King Turbo Camp
established
themselves
on
Canada’s first Commercial Urban
Radio Station “FLOW” 93.5FM
creating Canada’s first commercial TRIBUTE TO THE
Radio Show “Riddim Track”. King
Turbo has expanded beyond radio LEGENDS
as Ricky Turbo is currently hosting
his popular show on Irish & Chin
n Canada, the month of February
Sound Chat Radio while Slingshot
is designated as Black History
recently came onboard as part of Month and whether you subscribe
The Tanya Mullings Show on to this or not it has opened
FlavaRadio.com.
opportunities to showcase Black
culture at an elevated level. As
To date King Turbo has amassed circumstance would have it,
many victories since 1989, most February is also International
recently competing and winning Reggae Month therefore, each
“Canada Rumble” Road to World year Canadians are given an
Clash 2016 and the 2016 and 2017 opportunity to pay Tribute to the
World Clash Championship titles. Legends of Reggae music for
In 2016 and 2017 the sound was being a vital part of Black culture.
also invited to take part in Damion Dubbed, Black History Month
‘Jr Gong’ Marley’s Jamrock Cruise Reggae Jam and produced by
Clash. King Turbo is a current Jambana, an annual Reggae
nominee for the world renowned showcase is held in Ontario. This
IRAWMA for
most
popular year events were held in three
international DJ. King Turbo’s different
locations;
Guelph,
current members are Sling Shot, Toronto, and Brampton.
Ricky Turbo, Dyce, Spex, Shooks
and Jahmin.
Black History Month Reggae Jam’s
I
Toronto stop we got the opportunity
to see the Son of the legendary
Peter Tosh, Andrew Tosh in action.
Held at the famous Lee’s Palace, a
venue which has been a supportive
environment for hosting Reggae
music presentations in the city, the
line-up featured Alexi Couto,
Fujahtive (who are legends within
their own right), Nana Mclean, who
gave a moving and rousing
performance backed by the
Hardcore Band; five time Juno
winner Exco Levi and the High
Priest Band who provided the
audience with covers of some of
the legendary tunes from the
genre.
The night’s performance was
dubbed Tribute to the Legends
which set the stage for Andrew
Tosh whose performance did not
disappoint, as the entire audience
was singing and dancing to the
beat of the music. His set included
his own tunes as well as some of
the legendary tunes. We overheard
one patron state that if he didn’t
know any better he would think it
was 1979, when Peter Tosh visited
the city.
For those who attended, it was a
memorable night as well-known
Radio and TV personality Master T
did exceptional as always in his
hosting duties. Spinning the music
between sets and representing the
next generation carrying the torch
to ensure that music from then until
now will always reverberate in the
city and country. Joshua Lucas
was in full form.
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