Mad Cobra

Real Name: Ewart Everton Brown
Born: March 31st, 1968
Place of Birth: Kingston, Jamaica

Brown began his career earnestly following his musical roots - his uncle was an engineer at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong studios. While still at school, Brown chanted on sound systems including the Mighty Ruler and Stereo One. After gaining his qualifications, he pursued a career in the music business. He recorded with a number of producers including Bobby Digital, King Jammy and Donovan Germain. In 1991, Brown recorded "Tek Him", riding a version of Eric Donaldson's 20-year old Jamaican Music Festival winner, "Cherry Oh Baby". The song has since become an anthem and a myriad of versions to the rhythm surfaced, including a remake by Donaldson himself. The hits continued, including "OPP" (Other Peoples Property), with Conroy Smith, "Body Basics", "Be Patient", "Yush" and "Gundelero". His success led to a number of compilations, including Cobra Gold, which featured a variety of tracks from a number of producers, and Ex-Clusive produced by Clive Kennedy. By 1993, following the success of Shabba Ranks, the major labels took an interest in Jamaican performers and Sony signed Brown, who subsequently became known as Mad Cobra. With production credits to Clifton "Specialist" Dillon and Sly Dunbar, the release of "Flex" earned him international fame by breaking into the US pop charts.

The success of the song was eclipsed when the rhythm was used for Buju Banton's infamous "Boom Bye Bye", although Mad Cobra's earlier homophobic song, "Crucifixion", had been ignored by the media.
In Jamaica, he recorded "Fat And Buff" for Jammys and, inspired by the revival of conscious lyrics, "Selassie I Rules" in 1994, sounding much like the ever popular Bounty Killer. Throughout 1995 his prolific output continued with notable hits such as "Poor Mans Shoes", "Live Good", "Hell Swell", "Send Them Come" and "Dun Wife". He was also the featured DJ on Bunny Rugs' remake of his Third World hit, "Now That We've Found Love". At the 1995 Sting concert, promoted by Isaiah Lang, Mad Cobra faced Ninjaman in a clash of the DJs. Unfortunately, on this Boxing Day event Mad Cobra had to accept defeat, but a rematch was scheduled in Montego Bay on New Year's Eve. The clash never took place and the two protagonists embraced, with Ninjaman announcing, "Cobra ah mi bwoy, we come outa de same camp".

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Copyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 2005
Source - BBC Music Profiles