Pliers: I got my name from Pinchers, the dancehall singer. Sunday Gleaner: How did you get your name? The Sunday Gleaner talked with Chaka Demus and Pliers about their more fruitful years in dancehall. However, when they combined it was pure magic, Murder She Wrote being one of their songs stamped into Jamaican music history. Pliers, who worked with such producers as King Jammys, Winston Riley, King Tubby, Black Scorpio and Coxsone Dodd, recorded such solo hits as Snake In The Grass and Bam Bam. Demus launched his career on King Jammys sound, delivering singles such as One Scotch as a duet with Admiral Bailey, and Everybody Loves Chaka. With appeal that has crossed international borders, Chaka Demus and Pliers is the first Jamaican act to place three consecutive top five singles in the British charts.īetween June 1993 and January 1995, they notched up a record five consecutive UK Top 20 entries, including Twist & Shout, their number one hit with Jack Radics.īoth Chaka Demus (John Taylor) and Pliers (Everton Bonner) had established successful solo careers prior to combining their efforts. T he paradox of rough-voiced deejaying and sweet, soulful singing is what has made Chaka Demus and Pliers the most successful duo in Jamaican music history. The strong performances do ultimately outnumber the weak, though, making this compilation a worthy acquisition for fans of dancehall and modern roots reggae.Pliers (right) and Chaka Demus are friends and artistes together. By contrast, the self-produced "It Hot" is a gem, as is the swinging and tuneful "Boom Smilin'." The duo's cover of "Twist & Shout" is a fun novelty, while "War a Gwaan" brings a dreader perspective to bear - but is marred, again, by a mismatch between the key Pliers sings in and the key the musicians play in. The hit "Murder She Wrote," for example, is an obvious choice, yet it features some of Demus' most awkward toasting and Pliers' most off-key singing. The problem is that the material most likely to end up on such a collection isn't always the best they have to offer. But their albums are actually rather spotty, making a collection like this especially welcome. So one would expect their output to be a bit more consistent.
DJ Chaka Demus and singer Pliers are a real double threat: Both are highly gifted artists, one of them a better-than-average dancehall toaster and the other a sweet-voiced crooner with a cool, assured delivery, and they have managed to attract the attention of some of reggae's finest producers, most notably Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
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