Born to a Sierra Leonean father and a German mother in a town outside Cologne, Germany, in July 1979, Patrice Bart-Williams grew up listening to Burning Spear, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, and Bob Dylan, first writing his own songs when he was 12. He spent his teen years playing with various bands, including the Afro-beat/reggae group Bantu, through which he met Matthias Arfmann, who produced his debut EP, Lions, which came out in 1999. His combination of reggae, soul, and folk attracted attention from the major labels, and his first full-length, Ancient Spirit, was released on Sony the following year.
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© 2008