Dancehall musician

Musical artist

Leroy Russell Junior (born 4 November 1987), better known by his stage names Tommy Lee and referred to by fans as “Godfather”Uncle Demon and Tommy Lee Sparta, is a Jamaican dancehall artist from Flankers Montego Bay, Jamaica. Tommy Lee Sparta gained popularity as a member of Adidjahiem Records and the *ociated Portmore Empire crew under the leadership of Vybz Kartel. He has been a controversial figure in dancehall due to his self-described "Gothic Dancehall" style, which often features dark and Satanist-inspired subject matter.

Contents

• 1 Career
  • 1.1 Bounty Killer feud
• 2 Personal life
• 3 Discography
  • 3.1 Extended plays
  • 3.2 LPs
  • 3.3 Features
• 4 External links
• 5 References

Career

Tommy Lee Sparta began deejaying in late 2007 at Snipa Studios in Flanker, where he recorded his first song, "Spartan Story." During this time, he performed as an opening act for local shows, including several from Portmore artist Vybz Kartel. Kartel, noticing that the artist was receiving positive responses from the crowd, invited him to move to Kingston and become a part of the Portmore Empire, Kartel's music crew. Tommy Lee Sparta, however, was reluctant to leave his family and neighborhood, and declined the offer.

According to Tommy Lee Sparta, it wasn't until his performance at Vybz Kartel's Birthday Bash on 7 January 2010 that he decided to take the idea of being a musician seriously, and he soon accepted the offer to become an official member of the Portmore Empire crew. "Warn Dem," released in November 2010, was Tommy Lee Sparta's first recognized hit, based on a riddim by Da Wiz, his original producer from Snipa Studios. The accompanying music video, directed by Dk Konsepp, was also a first for the artist.

Tommy Lee Sparta's breakthrough hit came with "Some Bwoy (Link Pon Wi Chain)" on the 2011 So Bad Riddim. However, it wasn't until well after Kartel's arrest and the release of the music video in 2012, under new management from Junior "Heavy-D" Fraser, that the single gained traction. The single worked its way to the number one spot of many of Jamaica's informal music charts, including Pree Dis and Entertainment Report, and the video was in heavy rotation on Caribbean stations such as RETV, Hype TV, and Tempo Networks. "Some Bwoy," along with follow-up singles such as "Psycho," "Buss a Blank," We want paper and "Shook (Uncle Demon)," gave Tommy Lee Sparta significant exposure locally as well as internationally and in 2012 he was not only the headlining artist for both the International Reggae Sumfest show in Montego Bay and the Sting music festival in Portmore but he was also the first full blown dancehall artist from the second city Montego Bay to do so he was 23 years old at the time.

In May 2012, Adidjahiem Records was shut down, citing the legal issues of owner Vybz Kartel and lack of ability to represent/promote artists as reasons for the closure. Since then Tommy lee sparta has been an independent artist with his own record label Guzu musiq and his musical group the SPARTA Camp which consist of artistes like Dre x Sparta and more.

In September 2012, Tommy Lee announced that he would be changing his stage name to Tommy Lee Sparta for trademark purposes, and to differentiate himself from Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and actor Tommy Lee Jones. The element "Sparta" was derived from an informal name given to the part of Flankers where he grew up. The move was suggested by his lawyer as a way to thwart potential copycat musicians from impersonating the artist.

Usain Bolt, Warren Weir and several other Jamaican sprinters have stated their appreciation of Tommy Lee Sparta and Adidjahiem Records, going so far as to flash the hand sign for the clique popularized by Tommy Lee Sparta after Jamaica won all three medals at the men's 200 metres in the 2012 Summer Olympics. In response, Tommy Lee Sparta released remixes for his songs "Psycho" and "Some Bwoy" with altered lyrics paying tribute to the Jamaican sprinters.

Deejay Bounty Killer in 2006

Bounty Killer feud

In September 2012, a feud formed between Tommy Lee Sparta and Alliance leader Bounty Killer over a series of Twitter posts that were perceived as an insult to Tommy Lee Sparta. One such message from Bounty Killer on 8 September said, "Christmas is 4 christ so nuh demon or devil cyaah win we a bloodclaat all a dem a dead a sting!!!" This was widely believed to be a reference to Tommy Lee Sparta's "Uncle Demon" persona and a threat against the artist regarding the upcoming Sting music festival on Boxing Day. Bounty Killer, however, denied that the tweet was directed towards Tommy Lee Sparta, stating that the message was against the devil and not any artist in particular. Tommy Lee Sparta said of the slight that he had great respect for the artist as an elder dancehall musician, and that as the statement was probably made to garner publicity, he would not respond with any disrespect.

However, just a little over a week later, Tommy Lee Sparta released the music video for a new diss track directed towards Bounty Killer en*led "Goat Head." Bounty Killer responded the next month with two diss songs of his own, "Di Gaad" and "Nyammy Lee." As a result of the growing feud, the two artists were slated to clash at the 2012 Sting music festival, with Bounty Killer comparing the matchup as equivalent to "a giant and an ant." However, when Sting's lead promoter, Isaiah Laing, implied that Tommy Lee Sparta might have a chance of defeating the veteran artist, Bounty Killer saw the remark as an insult and cancelled his performance. During Tommy Lee Sparta's performance at Sting, he expressed his support and respect for Bounty Killer, and both artists have since stated they consider the feud to be over.

Tommy Lee was featured in the international new york based magazine the fader on October 2 , 2012

LOCAL-AWARDS:: Tommy Lee Sparta was nominated for two Youth views award in Jamaica they are collaboration of the year with the single informer featuring vybz kartel and top charting song of the year one to which he copped an award he won top charting song of the year 2012 with his hit song psycho.

International Moves: one year after 2012 breakout sensation Tommy Lee Sparta hit the dancehall scene he welcomed the new year with a good start as google play described him as an artist to watch for in 2013 and despite so much controversy and negative comments surrounding the dancehall new comer because of his dark and self described gothic dancehall lyrics he still managed to get some international recognition as he was awarded the breakout artist of the year in Kenya and had a successful 2013 European tour.

he also got out of his comfort zone and showed versatility when he released the first fully animated music video in dancehall called captain sparta that become a big hit in Sweden with the kids ranging from ages 12–19 years old based on the words of his then manager junior heavy d Fraser it caused the artiste to secure his first children’s show something that very few dancehall artist has ever done.

But that’s not All fans were overwhelmed when it was revealed that Tommy lee sparta’s hit song psycho was featured on grand theft auto 5’s Blue ark radio station as a soundtrack for the global video game franchise.

In 2016 Tommy Lee Sparta was featured on a song called Evil with German rappers RAF Camora and Bonez MC, the song charted on the German charts at number 57 and has sold platinum it was a part of RAF CAmora and Bonez MC’s joint studio album that also gained platinum certification .

Other achievements He entered the billboard reggae albums top 10 chart at number ninth in 2018 with his new creator Ep In 2019 he had the mega hit blessings that garnered 10 million views within 2 months making it the fastest viewed solo dancehall single in history at the time and has racked up more than 20 million streams across various platforms. He then followed up with the energetic Trelawney dinesty king produced single called under vibes that had fans dancing like crazy in parties and had radio stations blazing. in 2021 Tommy Lee Sparta has done a collaboration with dancehall artist skeng *led protocol that has garnered over 16 million streams on YouTube just little over 3 months

Tommy Lee Sparta was nominated in 2020 for an IRAWMA (international reggae & music awards) award in the category of best dancehall stage craft entertainer. Tommy Lee Sparta’s latest hits include blessings, rich badness, under vibes, tattoo, procreator, power struggle, and lord luci. Tommy Lee Sparta has am*ed 1 million subscribers on his YouTube vevo channel on September 18, 2021 thanks to his vastly large cult following he declared his appreciation for the feat on his Instagram account this is a clear indication that the Sparta fanbase is one of the most loyal fanbase in the game .

Personal life

Russell was born in 1987 and grew up in Flanker an unofficial residential community located just east of Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. He has 4 sisters and an older brother. One sister, Denise Baker, lives in Allentown, PA with her husband Kirk Baker, Russell's older cousin Andrew Henry and his five children: Darion "Deejay" Henry, the eldest, Donovan "Popatime" Henry and Gerard Henry.
Russell obtained an American Visa in June 2014. Tommy Lee Sparta says that he only "pree music" in his 2013 sting performance.
He describes his upbringing as difficult, having lost his father at the age of 9. Russell attended Anchovy High School in the nearby town of Anchovy. He had his first child at the age of 14 while he was in eighth grade by his high school sweetheart, Donna who was then in the eleventh grade.

In February 2014 he was accused along with four others in connection with a lottery scam, he was proven to be innocent of the lottery scamming in 2019. He was unlawfully detained for nearly a week and was ordered to be released by a judge in May 2019

In March 2021, he pled guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Discography

Extended plays

• 2012: "* Mechanic" (UIM Records)
• 2012: "Gal Gimme Wine" (UIM Records)
• 2012: Psycho (Tad's Record Inc)
• 2012: Grim Reaper (UIM Records)
• 2013: Save Dem Soul (Da Wiz Records)
• 2013: "Bun Nu Nu " (UIM Records)
• 2012: Some Bwoy (Young Vibez Production)
• 2013: Spartan Soulja (Guzu musiq)
• 2014: "Dream" (UIM Records)
• 2015: "Big Bike" (UIM Records)
• 2015: "Rebirth" (UIM Records)
• 2017: "Diamond Blessings" (Damage musiq)
• 2018: "New Creator" (Ricardo Gowe Record)
• 2019::”Blessings (damage musiq)
• 2019::”Under vibes (Falmouth dinesty king records)
• 2019::”Rich badness(herah musik production)
• 2020::”Procreator (damage musiq)
• 2020:”Tattoo(night owl musik)

LPs

• 2012: Grim Reaper - LP (UIM Records)
• 2012: Bay Badness - LP (UIM Records - TJ Records)
• 2013: Save Dem Soul - LP (UIM Records - Da Wiz Records)
• 2013: Sparta Hits - LP (UIM Records - Guzu Musiq)
• 2013: Uncle Demon - LP (Guzu Musiq)
• 2013: Sparta Boss - LP (Guzu Musiq)
• 2017: Diamond Blessings - LP (Damage Musiq)
• 2018: New Creator - LP (Guzu Musiq)
• 2019: Reincarnation (Boss Lady Muzic, Inc.)

Features

• 2016 "Evil" (Bonez MC & RAF Camora feat. Tommy Lee Sparta)
• 2016 “Kuraiyoru” (Kohh feat. Tommy Lee Sparta)
• 2017 "Scotch Bonnet" (Ramriddlz feat. Tommy Lee Sparta)
• 2017 "Crossover" (Sean Kingston feat. Tommy Lee Sparta)
• 2018 "Run With It" Madeaux feat. Tommy Lee Sparta)
• 2019 "Blessings" (Damaqe)
• 2021 "LOVE PRISON" (KILLY feat. Tommy Lee Sparta)

External links

• Tommy Lee Sparta website (offline as of 09/18/2017)

References