Clarendon has produced a long line of talented artistes such as Everton Blender, Coco Tea, Freddie McGregor, Derrick Morgan and the list continues with the young, vibrant and super talented.................I-Octane The 22-year-old grew up in Sandy Bay where he attended Palmers Cross All-Age and Garvey Maceo High School. After completing his high school education he went to Knox Community College intending to pursue a career in architecture…but that didn't work out exactly as he planned. Although he excelled in the sciences at school the addictive beat of the sweet reggae music was too much a lure to resist and soon he was giving in to his real love – music. While going to school he was known for his spit-fire lyrics and cutting rhythms to fit any occasion and he was a regular feature at school concerts and barbecues at Knox. Bombarded with encouragement from friends to take his talent more seriously he did just that after a scorching performance when a producer approached him. The producer convinced him to use his raw natural ability and not to wait any longer before getting into the business. I-Octane began to give serious thought to getting deeper with music. He assessed his strengths, and summed up that he had above average talent. With that in mind, he made the decision. He then chose a name that would represent the high energy and consistent work, which he put into his music. He then modified the "High Octane" gasoline concept to become I-Octane. He worked at more barbecues and small stage shows, and tried harder to get his voice on a record. As fate would have it, a friend introduced him to famed Donovan Germaine to do work with Penthouse Records. In 2000, he recorded 'Oh Jah', 'Stepp A Seed' for Penthouse, plus 'Love In The streets' with Beres Hammond, Buju Banton and Assassin. Working with them turned out to be much more than a mere moral booster. A friend introduced I-Octane to Junior Arrows he jumped at the chance to have the record label managing his musical career. Under their management wing he has developed strong confidence under their guidance. At Arrows Recording he developed stronger and better vocals, which led to his soaring confidence on the microphone and on the stage. He landed a slot on Beenie Man's first staging of Summer Sizzle stage show, and represented his craft well, creating an even bigger buzz. Since then he has recorded songs such as 'What's Going On', 'Gun Rise' (with Teflon), 'Stamp Class' and 'Stab Vampire' which plummeted him into the spotlight becoming a hit single enjoying a good run on Jamaica Music Countdown charts and over seas charts. I-Octane has recorded for other labels such as H20Records with 'War No More' and 'Jeans'. He also recorded ''No Love' for Purple Skunk Musik for which a music video medley featuring Stevie Face was shot. I-Octane has performed to rave reviews on shows such as G.T Christmas Extravaganza '06 & '07, Sting '06 & '07, Sizzla's Rise to the occasion '07, All Spice 07, Fully loaded 07, Ocho Rios Seafood Festival 07, Port Maria Independence Gala 07, Red Bull Soap Box Show 07, Cure Fest '07, East Fest 07, Reggae Fever 07 Tru Juice-Rebel Salute 08, and on the international scene he worked up a sweat last September in Canada showing them his capabilities. The cultural singer is reaping the fruits of his hard work as he has been nominated for Best New Artiste and Best Dancehall Collaboration in Richie B's Excellence in Music and Entertainment Awards and is a front runner in Reggae Academy Music Awards in the category of Best Solo Male Reggae Vocal and Best Reggae Video for 'Stab Vampire'. Among the videos that I-Octane has ruling the airwaves are 'Gun Rise' and Stab Vampire which sat in the number 1 position for five (5) weeks on CVM TV's video chart. Stab Vampire did exceptionally well in 2007 and earned the VIDEO of the year 2007 on EME Award and also on the two of the most popular Television Stations HYPE TV and RETV Video charts. I-Octane is now working on completing his album while he continues to build up his catalogue of conscious songs, lovers rock and defense songs as he terms it.
The Dutch Accepts I-Octane
Conscious singer I-Octane returned home on a high after making good on his first ever European performance at the Sundance Festival in Holland on August 10. The singer was surprised at the response he received from the estimated 30-35,000 patrons as he belted out his popular singles such as Stab Vampire, Poverty and Different Page.
He was surprised by how much they knew his songs. He felt that it was one of his best performances yet and was grateful to performed in front of a huge white crowd and hearing them singing his songs word for word.
The songs went over so well, that I-Octane found himself performing each track more than once. When he touched Different Page well in the singers own words, It was a different page all together. He had to do that song three times, before he could eventually satisfy their insatiable appetite for the single.
The singer had every reason to enjoy his first stint in Europe as he was a hot commodity there doing one interview after another for magazines, radio and television stations. That was not the only thing occupying his time as he was also in demand to do dub plates and specials for various sounds in that part of the world.
I-Octane also did a superb performance in Canada on the Toronto International Music Festival which took place last weekend at Oakville Italian Garden, Toronto.
Christmas proved to be a busy time for I-Octane as he appeared first at Island Explosion in Clarendon on Christmas Eve with the following day, he headed to St Elizabeth where he was one of the featured acts on GT Taylor's Christmas Extravaganza, before finishing it all off on Boxing Day at the Greatest One Night Show on Earth... Sting. With its unpredictable crowd, you just have to ensure that you go there prepared and ready to deliver big time and sure enough I-Octane delivered.
Many thanks to Heather at Truckback
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