Roots Reggae artist Natty King, real name Kevin Christopher Roberts, was born November 27, 1979. He grew up in the countryside of the Saint Thomas Parish in the Southeast of Jamaica.
At age 3 Kevin moved to Kingston Waterhouse with his grandmother where he went to kindergarten/basic school and after 3 years he moved back to Bath where he attended Bath Primary & Junior High School.
In his teens, Kevin left Bath to move back to Kingston, Nine Miles, Bull Bay (close to Bobo Hill) to visit his grandmother and aunt and ended up selling in the Jubilee Market, Down Town Kingston. That’s when his grandmother advised Kevin to learn a trade and he attended the Heart Trust Training Center. Natty King is the father of 4 children: Malik Roberts, Raheem Roberts, Malikah Roberts, and Joaquin Roberts. Slowly finding his calling in music, Kevin came up with his first stage name ‘Singing Kev’, but soon after he changed it to ‘Lucie B’ because people around him said he sounded like Luciano when he performed Luciano’s songs on stage in his community in Bath St. Thomas. In his search for the right name, Kevin changed his name again to Brehjah (The Breath of Life). Then, finally, he met with the great producer-duo Steely and Clevie who crowned him NATTY KING and gave him his first record BADNESS HYPE.
Natty King rose to prominence in the early 2000s as he landed his first hit of the DJ Trinity produced song ‘Mr. Greedy’, which reached the #1 position on the Jamaican charts. His next single, again, produced by super producers Steely & Clevie ‘No Guns To Town’ debuted at #1 in the Jamaican video charts.
After gracing Jamaica’s biggest stages like Sting 2003, East Fest 2003 & 2004, Rebel Salute, Western Consciousness, and Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest all held in 2004 the artist decided to tour through the US and Europe. On these tours, he performed a.o. at the Rototom Sunsplash festival (still in Italy, nowadays in Spain), and the Uppsala Reggae Festival (Sweden).
In 2003 Natty King received the International Reggae and World Music Award (IRAWMA) in the category Best Rural Artist and in that same year he also received the Jamaica Federation Music Award in the category Best New Singer.
In the following years, Natty King toured the world to bring the message of reggae and Rastafari and in 2005 he released his 19-track debut album “No Guns To Town’, containing his big hits like ‘Mr. Greedy‘ and the title song ‘No Guns To Town’.
4 years later in 2009 Natty King brought his 15-Track album ‘Trodding’ to the world. Containing tracks like Mi Black Bredda, and Fit Yuh Afi Fit. In 2010 Natty King teamed up with Austria’s House of Riddim for his hit-filled 16-track ‘Born Free” album. The ‘Born Free’-album did a lot for the artist as it expanded his fanbase globally, which was followed with more touring to perform his new hit tracks like ‘Real Herbalist’, ‘Born Free’ ‘Purge Dem’, ‘Care for life’ and ‘Evil Surround Me’.
In the years after 2012, Natty King chose to focus on writing new songs for a new album, perfecting his craft as a producer and entertainer and was building his own Wellowell Studio and record label. Meanwhile, he organized charity events and gave back to schools in Jamaica. In 2018 he released ‘Why Sacrifice’ with Luciano and in 2020, going into the Covid Pandemic he released the joyful ‘JOE’, a slightly different track from what people were used to from ‘The Man from the East’. With JOE the artist explored his versatility in an uptempo dancehall song.
Gearing up for his new album, Natty King released ‘Leave them to time’ on the compilation ‘Chezidek & Friends – Inna Dem Eye Riddim’, released on Tad’s Record.
At the moment of this writing, December 2021, Natty King is on the verge of releasing his highly anticipated, and long-awaited new album which will be dubbed ‘Rebellution’. Again the artist linked up with Sam Gilly from House Of Riddim for the production of this great body of work that won’t let the reggae fans down, set to release on January 7th, 2022. The new 19-track album includes ‘Why Sacrifice’ with Luciano and other features with artists like Turbulence, Rebellion the Recaller from The Gambia, Mr. Peppa and (Prince) Theo Nyeemiya.
The songs on ‘Rebellution’ are produced by Natty King, Hopeton Brown, Backyard Riddims, Julien Pompiere, Carlton Marchall, and House of Riddim.
Natty King is looking forward to touring the world again, bringing the message of reggae and Rastafari, and his old and new song to Reggae fans all over the globe.
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