World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Tony Rebel

Artist. Dancehall, revival

Active
1988-present
Sunrise
January 15, 1962, Manchester, Jamaica

Tony Rebel (born Patrick George Anthony Barrett) is a deejay who kept Rastafarian material in front of a dancehall audience through the years when the music was moving the other way, and who built the festival that has done the same thing since.

He sang in talent contests as Papa Tony and Tony Ranking and came up on sound systems including Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion. In Manchester he had worked Destiny Outernational, where he met Garnett Smith, then deejaying as Little Bimbo; Smith followed him to Kingston, where the two lived with Rebel's aunt and Smith began singing as Garnett Silk. His first single was "Casino," on MGB. The career started properly at Donovan Germain's Penthouse, where "Fresh Vegetable" was a hit in 1991 and where he settled into the singjay style, half sung and half deejayed, that he shares with his friend Garnett Silk. He was among the few dreadlocked cultural deejays working in the ragga era, and he recorded Tony Rebel Meets Garnett Silk in a Dancehall Conference (1994) with Silk.

Columbia signed him in 1992 and issued Vibes of the Times the following year, with "Nazerite Vow" and the title track. His own label, Flames, followed in 1994, and his albums since, including If Jah (1997), have come out on it.

Rebel Salute began that same year as a birthday party and became an institution. It is held each January on or near his birthday, first in Manchester and later at Richmond Estate in St. Ann, and it sells no meat and no alcohol. The festival has since given a stage to most of the artists associated with the reggae revival, and Flames issued the first album by Queen Ifrica, an artist of the same cast as himself.

Last updated October 23, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide: "More than any other deejay in this period, Rebel consistently tackled cultural themes on record." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 314. Bradley lists him first on "the new roots roll call." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 539.
  2. The contest names and the Youth Promotion sound are from Wikipedia. "Tony Rebel," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Rebel.
  3. Katz, who places Rebel among the "Christian Souljahs" of the rural southwest with Uton Green, Everton Blender and Yasus Afari. David Katz, "Zion in a Vision: Jamaica's '90s Rasta Renaissance," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, April 22, 2014, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/04/rasta-renaissance-feature.
  4. The single appeared on MGB in 1985. "Tony Rebel - Casino," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/4791047. Wikipedia dates it to 1988. "Tony Rebel."
  5. The Rough Guide: Germain's bestseller in 1990 was Beres Hammond's "Tempted To Touch," whose rhythm "provided further hits the following year, with... Tony Rebel's lyrically original 'Fresh Vegetable.'" Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 318. Wikipedia gives 1990. "Tony Rebel." The Rough Guide notes that he "had already established his style with the Germain-produced 45s, 'Mandela Story', 'The Armour' and 'Instant Death'." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 314. Rebel told Katz the song answered men who "used to call women 'beef' or 'porkie,' but as Rastaman, we wanted to change that." Katz, "Zion in a Vision."
  6. The Rough Guide says he "'singjays' along" with the rhythms "in fairly melodic fashion," and calls Silk "his friend." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 314, 318.
  7. Wikipedia calls him "one of the few dreadlocked 'cultural' deejays of the ragga era." "Tony Rebel."
  8. The album appeared on Heartbeat in 1994. "Tony Rebel Meets Garnett Silk - In A Dancehall Conference," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3602684.
  9. Wikipedia dates the Columbia deal to 1992 and the album to the following year. "Tony Rebel." His 1998 interviewer dates the signing to 1993. Rankin Mr. B, "Tony Rebel Interview," Niceup, February 8, 1998, http://www.niceup.com/interviews/tony_rebel.
  10. Wikipedia dates Flames to 1994. "Tony Rebel." Rebel told his interviewer that If Jah, although "distributed by VP," was "produced by Flames Productions." Rankin Mr. B, "Tony Rebel Interview," Niceup, February 8, 1998, http://www.niceup.com/interviews/tony_rebel The 1997 album was issued on VP. "Tony Rebel - If Jah," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1047297.
  11. Wikipedia says the festival began in Manchester in 1994, was held in St. Elizabeth until 2012, and moved to the Richmond Estate in St Ann by 2014; it is held on or around January 15 and allows "no alcohol and no meat." "Rebel Salute," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Salute.
  12. Queen Ifrica's debut album, Montego Bay (2009), was issued on VP, with Patrick "Tony Rebel" Barrett as producer and executive producer. "Queen Ifrica - Montego Bay," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/2346662.

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