Ijahman
b. Trevor Sutherland, 1946, Manchester, Jamaica, West Indies. Levi received his earliest musical tutoring as a youth living in Trenchtown from Joe Higgs, eventually becoming proficient enough to appear on Vere John's Opportunity Hour, the launching pad for many a reggae career. He made his first recording, "Red Eyed People", under the name Youth for producer Duke Reid in 1961. Levi emigrated to England in 1963, settling in Harlesden, London, and formed a short-lived group called the Vibrations. Once the Vibrations folded, he and another singer, Carl Simmons, formed a stage act called Youth And Rudie And The Shell Shock Show, performing a Tamla-Motown Records and Stax Records-style soul revue at the famous London niterie the Q Club, as well as touring Europe. He recorded a number of obscure singles at this time for various labels including Polydor Records, Pama Records and Deram Records, for whom he cut a reggae version of P.P. Arnold's "Angel Of The Morning", as well as a reggae version of "White Christmas" for Trojan Records, under the unlikely name of Nyah And The Snowflakes. None of these recordings made any impact, and Levi put his career on hold while he settled down to pursue a normal family life.
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