Colah Colah

I had the privilege of seeing Bob Marley driving his VW van in downtown Kingston, stopping for a short while to buy some fruits from my mom and other street vendors. And after he packed the fruits in his van, Bob walked into Randy’s Record store with a growing crowd behind him.”, Colah Colah recalls. “I will always treasure that memory”. Its was during the mid 1970s that a young Colah Colah had this unique experience of seeing the legendary Bob Marley, something that many artists would dream of. This moment in the early life of Colah Colah helped to shape his musical future. It is quite understandable that Bob Marley became Colah Colah’s first musical hero. Born Stephan Bygrave on January 6th, 1972, in the tough innercity community of “Jones Town”, Kingston, Colah Colah got his stage name from two girls who are his friend’s daughters. He attended VB prep school and then Stony Hill all age and completed his secondary education at Kingston Senior school. Downtown Kingston was always buzzing with entertainment activities, and after class was dismissed each evening, Colah Colah and his school mates including Frisco Kid frequented several record stores and studios where he saw many of the top recording artists. Performing at several school concerts, Colah Colah decided that he wanted a career in music. After leaving school in 1989, Colah Colah began hanging out at various studios in Kingston, including “Penthouse Studio” and “Music Works” recording studio. Inspired by top deejay Shabba Ranks, Colah Colah approached and recorded for various record producers. But it was Miss. Kempner, an american visitor, impressed so much by Colah Colah’s talent that she released his first record entitled “I And Jah”. He went on to record for labels including Calidonia Records and Capricorn records. Recognizing that music requires team work, in 1999 Colah Colah and two of his close friends started a group which they named “Covenant Radicals” and a label called “Covenant records”. Their musical effort generated recordings such as “A Better Way”, “The Girl Is Mine” and “By We”. Despite one of the group member’s migrating to the U.S. ,the remaining members maintained their friendship while pursuing their solo careers. Rather than waiting on producers to release his material, Colah Colah took the enterprising step of starting his own label named “Elevation Records”. In 2005 he recorded a song entitled “Steady Meady” for Miller 9 Production. Since the producer had some financial difficulties, Colah Colah took over the production of the song and upon its release, “Steady Meady” captured the airwaves with heavy rotation on radio and the video was a smashing hit on TV and cable channels. “Steady Meady” elevated Colah Colah’s career to new heights which forced the music industry to stand up and take notice. This song has taken Colah Colah to various places in the caribean such as Trinidad and Tobago and to major cities in Europe like Amsterdam/Netherlands and Frankfurt/Germany. He also received an award from the Jamaica Defense Force for the conscious message in “Steady Meady” and for his charity work. “Teen Jam” and “Irie Bash” are just some of the major shows across Jamaica on which Colah Colah performed. In 2008 Colah Colah released his debut album entitled “Steady Meady” on his independent label "Elevation Records" and distributed it in digital form by Soundquake. Currently Colah Colah has a number of hot new singles named “Up And Running” and “Anchor” which features Turbulence. Those new singles are to be released on his upcoming album entitled "Up And Running". Colah Colah and his friend Matyu from Lava Vice Sound in Germany are planning a new european for 2011 to promote the new album. The saga continues...

Kingston, JM