Damian Dan Beckett is better known to his fans as Baby Cham, a name given to him by a friend of his. Born in Marverley and raised in Waterhouse, Cham spent the majority of his life in Kingston and got a taste of music from his uncle who used to own a sound system called Studio Mix. He recalled, "John Wayne, Super Cat and Half Pint used to DJ on the system".
Cham started going to hang out at studios straight after school including Penthouse, Scorpio, Jammys, Bobby Digital and Junior Reid. However, it wasn't until 1993 when he met Dave Kelly that a plan was made for Cham to finish school and then go back and work with the producer.
In 1994, Cham released his first single for John John (King Jammys son) called 'One Bag A Hotness'. Since then most people have become familiar with his repertoire that includes tracks like 'Many Many', 'Joy Ride', 'Que Sera' and 'Man and Man'. He has released one album so far, 'Wow... The Story' and said, "It did well for an independent album". Cham also writes all his own lyrics and has dabbled in a bit of production.
So far Cham has collaborated with artists such as Wayne Wonder, Mr Easy, Bounty Killer and Foxy Brown. The collaboration with Foxy Brown came about when Cham was on tour. They made a deal that he would do one track on her album and she would do one on his. Obviously this has given them both exposure in their respective markets and Cham has done tracks that are not 100% Dancehall. He said he has done, "Fusions of Hip Hop, R&B and Jazz" and believes that the Hip Hop and Dancehall relationship has come about because "It's just the time" and that it's "expanding, not diluting". Cham gave an example, "At first there was hardcore Rap... now fused with R&B. You have to have a change".
Cham is an award-winning artist and has received quite a few that he couldn't name at the time of the interview as he laughingly said, "I'd have to look on the wall"! We know that he has received a number of Tamika awards though amongst others.
Signed to Madhouse Records and stoically working with only one producer, Dave Kelly, has led to some negative commentary from people, some even calling him Dave Kelly's puppet, but Cham said, [19:35] "Some people are just straight haters. When you have the chemistry, you can't just leave that".
Cham is also one third of the Alias Project that is made up of him, Wayne Wonder and Dave Kelly.
Taken from: http://www.daintycrew.com/babycham.htm
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