Mortimer Softley was born in Georgetown, Guyana. He moved to Jamaica in 1995 to pursue his dream of being a reggae singer. In Guyana he hailed from Linden in the community of Albouystown and was nicknamed Black and White because of his love for dressing in that colour code.
In Jamaica the musicians he hung around would rename him Natural Black. On his arrival into the island he worked as a welder and coffee picker while recording in his spare time for various producers.
He made the rounds voicing for the likes of Anthony Red Rose, Gordon Lee, Jack Scorpio, Freddie McGregor and Beres Hammond. Some producers released material and others didn't but of the singles that came out all suffered for lack of promotion.
His fortunes however began to change when in 2000 he met Roger Grant, a young producer just starting his label Organic Records. This association resulted in two singles, "With Feeling" and "Bad Mind" which captured the audience’s attention and brought him his first taste of success. Both songs charted followed by in the Streetz' "Never Leave You Lonely" which peaked at number three on the Star charts. Grant became his manager and capitalized on the popularity of the singles by booking him on major shows like Sting, Reggae Sumfest and Rebel Salute. His promising career was further bolstered with frequent touring in France, Switzerland, and Sweden among other territories. Around this fertile period he also saw the release of his first album Spiritual Food on French label Patate followed by World War on Lionroots. His manager migrated to the US in 2004 and Natural Black scored in 2006 for producer Don Corleon with the chart topping "Far From Reality". The artist continues to record prolifically but has not being able to consistently maintain a high public profile. His career it seems his stuck in the stages of potential and the Guyanese hope is yet to truly conquer his adopted homeland.
Natural Black tours extensively and has performed to sold out audiences in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Austria, France, Italy and Slovenia. He has performed on most of the major Reggae shows and festivals such as Uppsala Reggae Festival, Reggae Sumfest, Sting, Rebel Salute, East Fest and others. P.G. Music's Marlon McCubbin produced his 1995 album Far From Reality(Greensleeves) easily Natural's biggest success thus far.
This year Natural Black will once again grace the shores of the Cayman Islands for another memorable performance; having headlined next to Mr. Vegas for YoungBlood Productions back in 2007.
In addition to Luciano and Natural Black, a few local performers will be performing on stage at SpringSplash on Friday March 23rd at the Lions Cente.These include, Mr. Notch & LocalMotion 345, Regeneration Band, Andy Blake, Super C and many more of your favourite local acts.
SpringSplash is also sponsored by The Ministries of Tourism and Culture, Radio Cayman, Eyecay, Digicel, Arbutus Gallery, Ital Spot, Cayman Airways.
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