Prince Hammer

Berris Simpson, better known as Prince Hammer, is a Jamaican reggae deejay, singer, and record producer.

Biography

Simpson was born at the Jubilee Hospital in Kingston and grew up in a Christian family in Kingston.

After deejaying on the Vee-Jay sound system in the early 1970s, Simpson initially recorded under his own name (as 'Berris Simpson') in the mid-1970s with producer 'God Son' Glen Brown for whom he recorded "Whole Lot of Sugar" ( also versioned by Sylford Walker as "My Father's Homeland" on the "Lambsbread" album ) and "Tel Aviv Rock", before adopting the 'Prince Hammer' name when he began producing his own recordings on labels that he owned such as Gold Cup and Belva, sold through his own record shop on Orange Street. He released several singles in the late 1970s for a variety of producers. He made a cameo appearance in the film Rockers, and found a wider audience via his Blacka Morwell-produced 1978 album Bible, released on Virgin Records' Front Line label. Notably, the title track of the album features Hammer's version of Cornell Campbell's Jah Me No Born Yah vocal chant, lyrically inspired by King James Bible-translated King David Psalm 19. His 45 release, Ten Thousand...

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