Winta James
Producer. Revival
- Active
- 1990s-present
- Also known as
- Phillip James, Phillip "Winta" James, Overstand Entertainment
Phillip "Winta" James is a keyboard player and producer, one of the architects of the reggae revival's sound through his Rootsman riddim and his albums with Protoje.
He grew up between St. Thomas and Clarendon, learned the piano, and after high school played the north-coast hotels. At eighteen he joined the band Ruption Kru, backing the Mighty Diamonds, Leonard Dillon and Winston Jarrett, and he later played in the bands of Junior Kelly, Bushman, Pierpoljak and Anthony B. In 2007 Damian Marley heard him at a jam and took him into his band, and he credits Marley's precise beat-making with changing how he worked.
He founded Overstand Entertainment in 2004, but its first release of note was the Rootsman riddim of 2013, which carried Chronixx's "Here Comes Trouble" and Jesse Royal's "Modern Day Judas." He built his productions from drums and bass, chasing the drum sound of 1980s Channel One. He produced Protoje's Ancient Future (2015), and then A Matter of Time (2018), which was nominated for the reggae Grammy; he has also worked with Samory I.
Last updated October 21, 2026
Connections
- Mighty Diamonds (backed)
- Damian Marley (bandleader)
- Anthony B (backed)
- Protoje (artist)
- Samory I (artist)
- Chronixx (artist)
- Romain Virgo (artist)
- Jesse Royal (artist)
- Iba Mahr (artist)
- Mortimer (artist)
Notes
- Jesse Serwer, "The LargeUp Interview: Winta James," LargeUp, April 15, 2015, https://www.largeup.com/2015/04/15/the-largeup-interview-winta-james/amp/.
- Serwer, "The LargeUp Interview: Winta James."
- Serwer, "The LargeUp Interview: Winta James." On A Matter of Time and Samory I, see the Protoje and Samory I entries.
