Big Youth – Manley Augustus Buchanan

Born 19 April 1949 –
Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica

Big Youth (sometimes called Jah Youth), is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s.

Not to be confused with a disc jockey, a deejay in Jamaican music is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental rhythm.

Big Youth was given the nickname by his colleagues when he left school at the age of 14, because he was both younger and taller than his co-workers.

He quickly became popular for his deep voice and Rastafarian style, and is best known for the music he made in the 1970s including “The Killer”, his first big hit, and “S-90 Skank”, which was his first number one hit in Jamaica.

At one point, Bob Marley even stated that Big Youth was his favourite artist.