Dennis Alcapone (born Dennis Smith on August 6, 1947 in Clarendon, Jamaica)… Read Full Bio ↴Dennis Alcapone (born Dennis Smith on August 6, 1947 in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a reggae DJ and producer.
Smith initially trained as a welder and worked for the Jamaica Public Services. Inspired by the big sound systems that he had visited in his youth such as those run by Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd and Prince Buster, and particularly King Tubby's Hi-Fi, which featured the DJ U-Roy, and the Kentone sound system featuring DJ Pamapdo, Smith teamed up with two friends to set up his own "El Paso" sound system in the late 1960s.
With Smith as DJ, the El Paso sound system grew in popularity and caught the attention of producer Keith Hudson, who asked him to record for him, starting with "Marker Version", with hits soon following in the form of "Spanish Amigo", "Shades Of Hudson", "Revelation Version", "Maca Version" and "The Sky's The Limit", all in 1970.Smith then moved to Coxsone Dodd's Studio One where he decided on a change of name, 'Al Capone' being a nickname that had stuck with him since going to see a gangster movie with friends. This resulted in the "Nanny Version" single, which was another big Jamaican hit. Producer Duke Reid then employed the DJ on a series of singles in 1971 and 1972 such as "Number One Station", "The Great Woggie", "Teach The Children", and "Musical Alphabet", and in the same era, Alcapone also recorded singles for Bunny Lee including "Ripe Cherry" and "Guns Don't Argue". In the period from 1970 to 1973, Alcapone made over 100 singles and released three albums, for a range of producers including Hudson, Dodd, Reid, Bunny Lee, Lee Perry, Joe Gibbs, Prince Buster, Alvin Ranglin, Prince Tony Robinson, J.J. Johnson and Phil Pratt. Alcapone had his own distinct half-sung style with high-pitched whoops, with his influence clearly visible in DJ's that followed such as I-Roy and the later "sing-jays". The second-wave DJ Dillinger initially named himself after Dennis Alcapone, using the name 'Young Alcapone' before changing his name at the suggestion of Lee Perry.
He also began working as a producer, working with artists such as Dennis Brown, Augustus Pablo and Delroy Wilson, as well as self-productions. After several international tours in the first half of the 1970s, Alcapone relocated to London, England in 1975, after which he became less active musically, although still recorded occasionally, and returned to live performance at the WOMAD festival in 1989.
Smith initially trained as a welder and worked for the Jamaica Public Services. Inspired by the big sound systems that he had visited in his youth such as those run by Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd and Prince Buster, and particularly King Tubby's Hi-Fi, which featured the DJ U-Roy, and the Kentone sound system featuring DJ Pamapdo, Smith teamed up with two friends to set up his own "El Paso" sound system in the late 1960s.
With Smith as DJ, the El Paso sound system grew in popularity and caught the attention of producer Keith Hudson, who asked him to record for him, starting with "Marker Version", with hits soon following in the form of "Spanish Amigo", "Shades Of Hudson", "Revelation Version", "Maca Version" and "The Sky's The Limit", all in 1970.Smith then moved to Coxsone Dodd's Studio One where he decided on a change of name, 'Al Capone' being a nickname that had stuck with him since going to see a gangster movie with friends. This resulted in the "Nanny Version" single, which was another big Jamaican hit. Producer Duke Reid then employed the DJ on a series of singles in 1971 and 1972 such as "Number One Station", "The Great Woggie", "Teach The Children", and "Musical Alphabet", and in the same era, Alcapone also recorded singles for Bunny Lee including "Ripe Cherry" and "Guns Don't Argue". In the period from 1970 to 1973, Alcapone made over 100 singles and released three albums, for a range of producers including Hudson, Dodd, Reid, Bunny Lee, Lee Perry, Joe Gibbs, Prince Buster, Alvin Ranglin, Prince Tony Robinson, J.J. Johnson and Phil Pratt. Alcapone had his own distinct half-sung style with high-pitched whoops, with his influence clearly visible in DJ's that followed such as I-Roy and the later "sing-jays". The second-wave DJ Dillinger initially named himself after Dennis Alcapone, using the name 'Young Alcapone' before changing his name at the suggestion of Lee Perry.
He also began working as a producer, working with artists such as Dennis Brown, Augustus Pablo and Delroy Wilson, as well as self-productions. After several international tours in the first half of the 1970s, Alcapone relocated to London, England in 1975, after which he became less active musically, although still recorded occasionally, and returned to live performance at the WOMAD festival in 1989.
Shades of Hudson
Dennis Alcapone Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Dennis Alcapone:
Alpha and Omega King Alpha and Queen Omega The beginning and the end…
King of the Track Ya, they call me the king of the record rap Said…
Teach The Children Yeah, teacher, teacher I beg you ring the bell Teach the chi…
Teacher Teacher Yeah, teacher, teacher I beg you ring the bell Teach the c…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
A. Augustin
Still fresh even after 50 years!!!
jhonywalker002
music that was made doesnt change as years go by, it doesnt spoil
Jose Pacheco
Pedra Dj muito som 💚💛❤🇯🇲👍😃
Mickey
Bellissima canzone di uno dei più grandi DJ degli anni '70, prodotto da un grande Keith Hudson ❤️🇯🇲👍❤️🇯🇲🇯🇲
Steve Barker
Absolute stone classic of course. Three hour show of Hudson on On the Wire Mixcloud site
Rocco M
Brilliant track amico.
Alan Toutouyoutte
Iove it
Count Robbie
Greetings Bionic Dub, is there a proper vocal cut to this toastin' version. It says this came out in 1970, but the riddim is seriously Rocksteady! If there is a vocal version, who is it by and what's the title called? Your collection of tunes are wicked! Give thanks.
Marc Marcello
This was keith hudson's first production while in his mid teens and this definitely sounds earlier than 1970, I've never heard of a vocal but there is a straight horn cut by karl bryan "midnight curfew"
David Edwards
💯💯💣👌👌