Everyone knows the story of King Midas.  Everything the man touched turned to gold.  Now while this may not be the most practical thing in the everyday world, it’s a talent that might come in pretty handy to more than just your neighbor looking for an easy way to an iced-out grill.

Take Tony “CD” Kelly for example.  Don’t know the name?   Then either you don’t keep up much with reggae and dancehall, or you’ve been living in a box for almost two decades.

Not to insult your intelligence or anything, but damn. The man has had a hand in almost every Beenie Man song that became a hit; not to mention Sean Paul’s “Like Glue” and “Deport Them”, Sasha’s “Dat Sexy Body”, Shaggy’s “Why Me Lord”, “The Saddest Day” with Foxy Brown and Wayne Wonder, “Girls Callin” featuring Elephant Man and Ghost Face Killah, Mr. Easy’s “Drive Me Crazy”, and “Top Shotta” with DMX, Sean Paul and Mr. Vegas.  And the list doesn’t stop there.

What it comes down to is this:  If there is a reggae or dancehall song that’s made you want to wine up pon  yuh woman or man, chances are that Tony “CD” Kelly has put his touch on it.  

And that doesn’t just apply to the beats.  Tony Kelly has been known to lay the rhythm, create the melody and write the lyrics.  How he came to have so much talent is a story unto itself, so I’ll try to make it brief.

Kelly was raised in one of the hardest parts of Kingston, Jamaica, where, he said, “ghetto means get out.” 

“Some people do it by any means necessary, by drugs or whatever.  They get rich but they can’t live a comfortable life because they constantly gotta keep looking over their backs.  My mom taught me the hard way; but she taught me the legal way also, and that you have to fight to get out.”

Tony found his way out through Tuff Gong Studios, home of the Marleys.  “I learned from Scientist and from Errol Brown,” said Tony, “They were two of the best engineers in Jamaica.”  While the styles of both differed a great deal, they both had a great deal to pass on.  After 6 months, he mixed his first record.

Tony caught a big break when he got to work with reggae great Tristan Palmer, who really took him under his wing.  “He’d be like, ‘Yo, leave the ‘prentice’ alone, he’s learning’.”  He counts those years as being integral to his growth as an engineer. 

“The first major highlight was working with Patra,” said the Kingston native, “I did her first album.  I produced the stuff, made the beats; I wrote the majority of the songs.  The first one I did was “Worker Man”.  The most recent major success was Sean Paul, “Like Glue”, “Top Shotta” with DMX, Sean Paul, and Vegas.  And Shaggy…Hot Shot.   Shaggy sold like 10 million, 12 million, worldwide.  I had a song on that.”  Tony even did the beat for “Church Heathen”, one of the hottest tunes in JA at the moment.

What else is he up to lately?

“Shaggy’s project, Wayne Wonder.  I’m supposed to be working on Elephant Man in a minute.  Working on Collie Buddz (Come Around and Mamacita).  So there’s a bunch of them.” Said Kelly. 

He also has two riddims coming out.  “One’s a one drop.  The other one is different, a dancehall thing, but different.  Shaggy has hit songs on both of them.  And I’m looking at working with Bounty [Killer], Movado, Vybz Kartel, Adonia and a host of others.”  Whatever he comes with, it will definitely be different.

Other artist and producers that he’d like to work with include the Neptunes, Timbalind, Scott Torch, 50 Cent, Olivia, and Jay-Z.

Kelly also hopes to see a day when the genre is in Billboard’s top 20 on a regular basis.

“We can be there,” said Kelly, “a lot of sounds and a lot of producers take from what we do and they get play.  It’s just that more executives got to take chances.  They gotta learn and listen.  Who came out big?  Elephant Man, Wayne Wonder, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Beenie Man, and that’s about it.”

He feels that there are some crazy talented artists who haven’t really been tapped, pointing out Vybz Kartel and Baby Cham.

As for the trend where selectors are putting out dance anthems, Tony said, “It’s the style of music that’s going around these days.  It’s Rock Wit It, Lean Back, Chicken Noodle Soup, same ting, Dutty Wine, same ting, Pon Di River – yuh understand.  It’s the same thing going on all around the world.”

However, he admits, “I don’t know if it’s helping the business, but what I do know is [the business] needs substance.”

In fact, the substance issue is something he’s harped on in the past, as well as the issue of beats getting faster and faster, beginning to mirror soca.  ” Everyone’s doing dance dance stuff.  There’s no substance.  I don’t think the soca artists really capitalize on it.  It’s right up their avenue and they have melodies like crazy.  All they had to do was stay on the Rupee, pop-soca tip.  But the Jamaicans aren’t capitalizing on it either, because they’re not coming with the substance.  They’re not coming with the melodies.”

In his upcoming work with Elephant Man he plans to tackle that issue, adding more melodies and substance, because, in the past, he finds that Elephant Man has been more known for his performances than his albums. “The man is talented,” said Tony.

He also points to a new artist named Tafari (“Rude Boy Warning”) as someone to look out for.  His sound is set to be in an upcoming movie, but lips are sealed on the details of his upcoming projects.

To new and aspiring artists and producers out there, he suggests they stick to whatever they feel and believe it.  Believe in it and learn.  “And never feel like you have arrived,” said Kelly, “because if you feel like you reach there, you might let your guard down.  It’s about reinventing yourself every minute.”

To see what sound Tony Kelly puts out next, hit him up at www.tonycdkelly.com.

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