Born in Barbados, Doug E. Fresh moved to the United States with his family when he was young. He made his recording debut in 1983, as part of the Boo-Dah Bliss Crew (with Spoonie Gee and DJ Spivey) on the Top Flight Records single “Pass the Boo-Dah”. He gained greater recognition the following year—appearing in Beat Street, backing the Treacherous Three. Later that same year, Fresh released his first records as a solo artist: “Just Having Fun” and “Original Human Beatbox”. His 1985 single “The Show” (which borrows the melody of the Inspector Gadget theme), and its B-side, “La Di Da Di,” are considered early hip hop classics. The single featured the “Get Fresh Crew”: DJs Barry B. and Chill Will, and MC Ricky D (who would later achieve fame as Slick Rick). In 1986, Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew released their debut full-length album, Oh, My God!. It included such notable tracks as “Play This Only at Night” and “All the Way to Heaven”, and was critically hailed for incorporating elements of reggae and gospel music. The next year saw another album, The World’s Greatest Entertainer, which appeared on Billboard magazine’s charts, due in part to the popular single, “Keep Risin’ to the Top”. MC Ricky D’s input was not appreciated by the record label, Fantasy Records, and he was asked to leave the group. (Rick’s 1989 solo debut, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick brought the MC greater success than he had attained as part of the Get Fresh Crew, reaching #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop charts.) In 1989, Fresh recorded the song “Spirit” for the film Ghostbusters II soundtrack. Fresh did not record again until 1992’s Doin’ What I Gotta Do, issued by MC Hammer’s Bust It Records. Fresh also beatboxed the drumline for the song “Freaks”, by child reggae artist Lil’ Vicious. Fresh also appeared in the video. In 1995, Slick Rick and Fresh reunited for a record entitled Play which found Fresh back on his feet. Play received positive reviews; Bret Love writes that the record is “a welcome flashback to the days when guns, drugs, sex and violence were not the genre’s primary lyrical focus.” In the late 1990s, Fresh collaborated with Prince on a number of recordings, notably Newpower Soul and the 1999, the New Master EP. Recently, Fresh has appeared on VH1’s I Love the 80s and on March 29, 2007 he appeared on Nickelodeon’s ME:TV for Beatbox Week. Fresh recorded the current theme used for the New York Knicks, in their highlight videos and during the pregame warm-up’s, titled Take Me Home, based very much off of the John Denver hit Take Me Home, Country Roads in 2001. Fresh also made a few Drum and Bass tracks in collaboration with E-Z Rollers in 2003, the best well-known being “Rhyme & Punishment”. In 2004 (October 9) (Oc, Fresh performed onstage with the Beastie Boys in Madison Square Garden. The performance was captured on video for the 2006 in-concert movie Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!. On May 23, 2007, Fresh performed variations upon “The Show” with finalist Blake Lewis on the season six finale of American Idol, the first ever hip-hop performance on the show,[citation needed] which was watched by over 200 million people around the world.[citation needed] Fresh is often called upon to host events for Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Bill Clinton and many other high profile celebrities.[citation needed] He currently resides in Central Harlem with his 5 sons. Two of his sons are in a rap group called “Square Off” and are featured on Fresh’s recently released single “Left-Right”. |
|
 | ||||||||||||||||
