Biography - Official Grant Phabao website

Grant Phabao Grant Phabao meets the still young Pro-Zak Trax label just when their first EP is issued, and quickly becomes the label's sound engineer. He takes part in the recording of Aleëm, Stephane Malca and Seven Dub's albums, before releasing, in 1998, his first single, "Tub".

The A-side, a real "Tub" indeed, will be played in all the clubs of the planet by the biggest Djs in the world. Erik Morillo even played it for more than one year at the climax of his set, looping three times in a row the famous and massive rush/break of the track! "Andub Head Yudu", the B-side, will directly place him at the Pantheon of the Masters of dub, beside Lee Perry, King Tubby and the others... Guidance, one of Chicago most illustrious record labels, will not be mistaken and immediately chooses the track to close its "Hi-Fidelity Dub Sessions" compilation.

His second EP, "Cannonbutt", is released the following year. Its A-side is frighteningly effective on a dancefloor too, but it's the B-side that especially enables him to present Henchy, one of the crazy guys with which he launches his own record label, T.I.M.E.C..

Grant Phabao shares then the production duties with Professor Oz for the Prof's first album, "One", and does some remixes with a "110% rate of reggae in it" (2 versions of "Stupid Jack" for Kojak and "Waves & Skunk" for Professor Oz). Pro-Zak Trax's studios in Bagnolet, near Paris, are bubbling with creative power.

In 2001 he releases his third EP, a very classy one, "Jus' Play My Mind", whose B-side with its Martin Luther King speech, "We Shall Overcome", still warms with sense the best chillouts today.

Advertising then starts to get more and more interested in his works and Grant Phabao starts to produce music for Hugo Boss, Metropolitan, Passoa... But clearly, he spends most his time producing and collaborating with other artists from the french musical landscape, who all regroup in the form of a collective of the same name as his own label: T.I.M.E.C. (for The Incredible Melting Entertainment Compagnons).

"Tub" is issued again in 2002 as a 12" of remixes by Antoine Clamaran and J. Graü. In 2003 things go the next level with the production of 3 concept-albums from T.I.M.E.C. (the collective), "Time(c) To Relax", "Tear The Latin Roof Off" and "Noëlectro", but also the production of Grant Phabao's first album, "Kulchaklash", recorded between Paris and Kingston, and featuring the legendary Studio One deejay Lone Ranger, and friends Ray I, Danny Dread & Simon diamond, all released as strictly limited editions (500 hand-numbered CDs).

In 2005 Grant Phabao goes to Jamaica for some new recording sessions and The Lone Ranger introduces him to many of his Jamaican singers and toasters friends, including Jahgo, Purpleman, Ranking Trevor, Echo Minott, The Silvertones or The Jays. The word starts spreading in Kingston that a new french guy is bringing back the original 60s and 70s Jamaican sound...

Autumn 2005 marks the beginning of a collaboration with Loik Dury (former Radio Nova honcho) and Djouls (collegue in T.I.M.E.C.), producing thematic mixes for the cult Paris DJs Podcast, where he especially manages the mastering of all audio content from original audio sources before their encoding into MP3s.

The Paris DJs site would really become the media on which to share his music and selections, with more than a hundred mixes so far, in collaboration with record collector friends Djouls or Fatta from the Soul Stereo Soundsystem, and, in its "virtual releases" section, the host to all Grant Phabao free singles, remixes, bootlegs, etc.
As of march 2011, the total on those mixes has reached one million downloads and on those free tracks 250.000 downloads.

But let's get back to 2006 when Grant Phabao releases on the T.I.M.E.C. label a new reggae single, a cover of the classic "(A Message To You) Rudie" with The Lone Ranger and his rub-a-dub partner Carlton Livingston, and it's an instant hit! Only released on a strictly limited edition 12 inch (500 copies), in extended and dub versions, of course this sold out in a few weeks. The heavy support he got from Fat City Records and a whole lot of DJs from all over the world encouraged him to go deeper into the art of vintage Jamaican reggae with a modern sound, and Grant Phabao starts dressing all kinds of vocals into reggae, from hip hop MCs such as Ty or The Procussions, to soul heavyweights such as Lee McDonald or George Clinton (a remix approved by the pfunk master!), or contemporary jazz-funk friends The Mackosoft... and he still finds the time to produce an instrumental nujazz album with saxophone player Gregsky as The Joslyns!

2007 marks the release on the Tru Thoughts label of a reggae remix of the famous "Seven Nation Army" cover by Nostalgia 77 with Alice Russell on vocals, played to death by all kinds of DJs. Another Alice Russell reggae rework will follow, with The Lone Ranger adding some tasty rub-a-dub vocals written especially to answer to Alice's lyrics! Grant Phabao produces a still unreleased remix of L'Aroye & Kÿ for Erik Rug's Les Disques du Telegraphe label, and then starts doing things the other way round: instead of reworking soul and hip hop vocals into reggae, he starts dressing Jamaican vocals originally recorded on his own reggae riddims, into psychedelic funk workouts or deep soul jazz classics...

Feeling he's reached a new level in his craft, Grant Phabao flies back to Jamaica in 2008 to record a whole bunch of new songs with The Jays, The Silvertones, Hot Peppa, and gladly welcomes Carlton Livingston at his "home" studio to finish an album worth's of recordings. The hard drives starts filling and piling with new projects and unreleased tracks... and it's high time for some new Grant Phabao releases, beginning with a 300 copies limited edition 7 inch of the many-times-covered "Fever" classic featuring amazing vocals from The Lone Ranger, pressed in Jamaica and issued on his own T.I.M.E.C. label.
Word of mouth spreads and thanks to Paris DJs co-founder Loik, a new track featuring The Lone Ranger and Carlton Livingston, "Running For My Life", ends up in the soundtrack to (famous French filmmaker) Cedric Klapisch's new hit movie "Paris".

Two more limited 45s pressed at 100 copies in Jamaica follow in 2009, "Teenager In Love" with Carlton Livingston, a reggae/doo wop take on the Dion and the Belmonts hit from the 60s (written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman), and "Don't Sell Your Soul" with The Jays. While the A-side is a smashing roots reggae monster, with huge vocal harmonies on a deep and burning Grant Phabao riddim, the gem of the record might be on the B-side, "Zion Holy Place", a spiritual gospel/jazz piece on which the Jamaican church-infused harmonies of The Jays fit like a glove. Everyone putting his ears on the 45s ends up buying it.

2009 is also the year of a spectacular series of reggae remixes available to download for free on the Paris DJs site, amazing versions of Erykah Badu, AC/DC (you won't believe your ears on this one!), Cee-Lo, Q-Tip, Mr Vegas, Beenie Man, The Herbaliser, Big Daddy Kane, Jurassic 5 or Lyrics Born! Famous French DJ Erik Rug is hammering the Grant Phabao remixes at his legendary Waxgroove parties and the DJs start emailing by dozens, asking for high quality versions of the mp3s to play in their mixes and shows.

The T.I.M.E.C. studios which Grant Phabao shares with label partner Djouls, who also runs the Paris DJs highly networking website, begins to get more and more friendly and collaborative visits, among which Earl Blaize from Antipop Consortium, Amayo or Martin Perna from Antibalas, Saul Williams, U-Brown, Afrodyete from The Breakestra, The Souljazz Orchestra, Doctor L (Assassin, Tony Allen, Rodolphe Burger, etc.), or Marco Benevento (The Royal Potato Family), without forgetting the Jamaican gang...

In february 2010 Grant Phabao and Djouls launch a new artists-owned label called Colored-Inc., with Doctor L, another nearly excessively productive musician and composer. In the scope of a single year, they would digitally release no less than two new Grant Phabao albums, one with The Lone Ranger bringing back the golden age of rub-a-dub, "Sweet Talking", and another with Carlton Livingston and his sweet soulful reggae songs, "Bridge Of Life" - and 5 Colored-Inc. thematic albums covering the african, jazz, latin, voodoo or psychedelic sides of Doctor L and Grant Phabao's production and music!!!

Having proven the value of his remixing skills through mp3 spreading, Grant Phabao now does mostly official remixes, for Richard Dorfmeister/Tosca (G-Stone), Diesler (Unique Records), Martha & The Muffins (Echo Beach), Ocote Soul Sounds & Adrian Quesada (Eighteen Street Lounge) or Brownout (Six Degrees). The mastering of hundreds of Paris DJs mixes is not without effects either and Grant Phabao is asked to do his magic on Franck Biyong's "Visions of Kamerun" and Les Freres Smith's "Contrebande Mentality" albums.

...If you've read all this it's now 2011 and Grant Phabao has a lot coming up. New remixes for N.A.S.A. (Anti), Nostalgia 77 (Tru Thoughts), The Echocentrics (Ubiquity Records) or long-time collaborator Gregsky. Two new albums are finished, one with The Jays, another one with The Silvertones, and a third one, to be released this summer, is on its way, an all-women album celebrating Phabao's upcoming parency!...

It's quite a long story, and while David Guetta is still playing year after year Grant Phabao's first single "Tub", this is still only the beginning...

Discography

Albums

2011 :: Grant Phabao & The Silvertones - Old Man River
2011 :: Grant Phabao & The Jays - Stepping Up In Time
2010 :: Grant Phabao & The Lone Ranger - Sweet Talking
2010 :: Grant Phabao & Carlton Livingston - Bridge Of Life
2006 :: The Joslyns - Meet The Joslyns
2005 :: Grant Phabao Presents Kulchaklash Starring The Lone Ranger & Friends
2001 :: Tnargoabaph - Dow't Fowget Indy EP
2000 :: Tnargoabaph - N'impowteukwa In Dub

Productions

2010 :: Black Magic - Hard 2 Find Vol.5
2010 :: T.I.M.E.C. - Noëlectro (reissue)
2010 :: The Drugstore - Hard 2 Find Vol.4
2010 :: One Foot In Jail - Hard 2 Find Vol.3
2010 :: T.I.M.E.C. - Time(c) To Relax (reissue)
2010 :: Down By The River Side - Hard 2 Find Vol.2
2010 :: The Black Cat - Hard 2 Find Vol.1
2004 :: T.I.M.E.C. - Noëlectro
2004 :: T.I.M.E.C. - Electronic Bossa & Psychedelic Soul Samba
2004 :: T.I.M.E.C. - Time(c) To Relax
2001 :: Professor Oz - One

Mix & Mastering

2010 :: Les Frères Smith - Contrebande Mentality
2010 :: Franck Biyong - Visions Of Kamerun

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