Mekka

There are multiple artists with this name: 1. Jake Williams a.k.a. Mekka, is a British dance DJ and remixer, who has recorded as JX and Rex the Dog. 2. Mekka, is a Muslim reggae artist who has done a lot to promote himself and his music through the web. 1) Jake's lucky break came in 1993 when the then 16-year-old sent a batch of demos to various record companies and Red Jerry of Hooj Choons invited him down to his studio. Soon after, he signed a deal with FFRR and under the guise of JX, enjoyed a raft of Top 10 hits with classic nineties dance anthems such as 'Son Of A Gun', 'You Belong To Me', 'There's Nothing I Won't Do' and 'Close To Your Heart', selling over half a million copies between them. He was also involved with Planet Perfecto's 'Bullet In The Gun', which reached the UK Top 10 in 1999, and wrote 'Diamondback' under his Mekka alias in 2001. He returned in 2004 with the release of 'Restless', again as JX; a track that was originally released as a promo in 2002 (under his Oblik moniker) but didn't receive a full release due to licensing issues regarding the use of samples from the main theme of the movie 'Exodus'. 2) Mekka is a Muslim reggae artist, born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia in 1978. The same year as he was born (1978) his parents fled from Iraq to Saudi Arabia. He was born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Libya and moved to Sweden at the age of five in 1983. His love for music and singing was present at an early age and he sang in the choir at the Qu’ranic school he attended. Mekka was one of the best reciters due to his voice, feel for rhythm and his keen interest in music and singing. He became hooked on reggae after a friend gave him a tape of various reggae artists, One Blood by Junior Reid being the first track. At the age of 14 that same friends took him to Stockholm where he worked as a DJ and was introduced to the old Swedish reggae elite at that time (Swing-a-ling and Trinity sound). It was from here that Mekka’s music career began. He got in touch with a man from Jamaica named Danny Dread (aka Goldteeth; a friend of Clint Eastwood and General Saint) who became his mentor and taught him patoa and the art of toasting. For those who are not familiar with these terms, patois is a language spoken in Jamaica and is a combination of African dialect and English. Toasting is a style of lyrical chanting which involves a DJ talking over a beat. At age 18 he was the second lead vocalist for the leading Swedish reggae band at that time - Cool Runnings and stayed with the band for about one year. At the age of 20 he became a second lead vocalist for a different Swedish band - Natural Way for about a year as well. In 2000 he decided he needed to develop as an artist and to find his own sound. From then until 2005 he locked himself inside his studio and did just that, creating a unique style and sound that is his trademark today. IN 2005 he signed an album deal and recorded eight tracks on an album titled Getting Stronger. In this same year he performed at the Uppsala Reggae Festival which helped him to be an established artist. Some of his influences are: Allah, Prophet Muhammad, Bob Marley, Junior Reid, Lutan Fyah, Steel Pulse, and many more. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.