Biography
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"Tony Chin is one of the great unsung heroes of Jamaica's golden age of reggae in the 1970s. As the rhythm guitarist for the Soul Syndicate, the prime studio band in Kingston during that electrifying decade, Tony helped anchor some of the biggest hits of the era." - Roger Steffens
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With a music career spanning over thirty years Tony Chin is a true founding father of reggae music. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in the cauldrons of Trenchtown and Greenwich Farm, Tony's career started off in the Rocksteady era of the late 1960s and progressed into reggae in the 1970s as an original member of the sensational Soul Syndicate band.
It is hard to imagine a chart-topping song that Tony Chin didn't perform on or a star singer Tony didn't support. Artists that Tony has played with include Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Big Youth, Burning Spear, Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Don Carlos, John Holt, Sugar Minott, Ken Boothe, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor, Judy Mowatt among countless others.
Tony Chin was prominent in creating the sound that defined roots reggae, and his legacy includes that Tony and Santa Davis developed the 'flyers' rhythm style that became such a craze in reggae with classic songs such as Dennis Brown's "Cassandra" and "West Bound Train" as well as Johnny Clarke's "Move Out Of Babylon". Though a devoted Soul Syndicate member Tony Chin's session playing found him included in the ranks of other notable Kingston studio bands such as The Aggrovators and producer Jack Ruby's "The Black Disciples" among others.
Emigrating from Kingston to California in 1981, Tony's rhythm guitar skills became as highly sought-after in the U.S. as in his homeland. Eventually Tony joined up with Californian based "Jack Miller & The International Reggae All-Stars" and later linked with American pop-reggae band "Big Mountain" in 1993 with whom he toured the world for several years riding the crest of an international hit song. 1996 found Tony reuniting with legendary Soul Syndicate founder and bass player George 'Fully' Fullwood in California, and as "The Fully Fullwood Band" they continue to provide the rock solid rhythmic support required by today's top reggae singers.