Winston Carlisle Peters, known in the music world as
Papa Winnie, was born in the Grenades islands, south of the Caribbean sea, near the Venezuela coasts. Sun, sea and music have been part of his life since he was little.
Music has made its home in this big family, his mother and his 6 sisters sang spirituals in church while Papa Winnie had begun to play the guitar and to sing Calypso and Reggae with his 5 brothers and with some of the local groups.
His father was a great musician of mandolin and quatro, a typical Caribbean 4 strings guitar.
In
1986 Papa Winnie decides to come to
Europe to introduce his music, after having been active in the first Milanese group, the IRIE, his musical activities as a soloist continue and he signs a contract with EPIC Records and with whom he cuts his first record
"April", released in December
1988, it turns to be immediately a great success thanks to the skillful mix of reggae, rap and pop music that is right away appreciated in Italy.
A year later, in
1989, Papa Winnie obtains unanimous approvals with the record
"Rootsie & Boopsie", dedicated to his beautiful twins. The album leaps to the Italian Top Ten receiving excellent reviews and Papa Winnie is invited as a foreign guest at the
Festival di Sanremo.
In 1990 Papa Winnie cuts a second LP
"One Blood, One Love", where he confronts very serious subjects such as racism, freedom, equality and respect among people, conquering new likings in the musical world.
This year as well, he contributes to the Festival di Sanremo by introducing with enormous success the English version of
"A" paired with Francesco Salvi, he performs also in numerous television programs such as
Festivalbar and Miss Italia.
His Happy Sound and his high level reggae dance are spread also in
Germany and
Brazil where he releases some singles also for the dance-hall market, obtaining deserved consensus and great sale results.
In
1993, with the
MCA/Universal label, the third album
"You are my Sunshine" is released, and with the homonym single, he gains immediately the
Austrian and German Top Ten thus obtaining the
Platinum Record in Korea..
Three years later, always with the American label,
"All my heart" is released and Papa Winnie makes himself known even more so as an artist at
international level.
The attachment he has with Italy, the country where he earned his first success, is even deeper today, and after a long absence from the home-grown scenes, Papa Winnie returns and releases Happy Sounds together with a new band of friends. His show is an inviting dance-hall straddled between the '80s and the new sonority of the third millennium.
"Money Problems" is his new inevitable success!!! ... not to miss!
label info - TBL 2016