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Dean Bent, better known as Sweetie Irie (b. January 1971) is a Jamaican-English singer and deejay.

Role in Gorillaz[]

Sweetie Irie was a member of the crew from Middle Row Records, a record label with a recording studio on the same building as the 13 and the Zombie Flesh Eaters' studios. He and the rest of the crew were invited by Damon Albarn to listen to the master recordings from Gorillaz' self-titled album after Parlophone, Damon's record label, requested for a set of remixes to be made to promote the record.

He provided vocals on Clint Eastwood (Ed Case Refix). a remix of the single Clint Eastwood made by Ed Case, which became the most well known version of the song in England as a result of its massive popularity on dance clubs during the early 2000s. It was technically the first Gorillaz song to ever be played live, and was performed live by the three at Notting Hill Carnival in August 2000 only thee days after it was recorded (the performance predating even the release of the Tomorrow Comes Today EP), and was once performed live during the Gorillaz Live tour in 2001. He also provided vocals for the song Dub Dumb, featured exclusively on the videogame MTV Music Generator 2 for the PlayStation 2W.

The refix was played live for the first time with Sweetie Irie in almost 20 years during the Song Machine Live performances in 2020. He also joined Gorillaz on the Song Machine Tour and 2022 World Tour.

Musical Career[]

Born in London, England, Dean Bent began working on local sound systems as a teenager, bringing him to the attention of Angus Gaye of Aswad, who recruited him to toast on the dancehall mix of their single 'On and On'. He was signed by the Island Records subsidiary Mango Records, and in 1991 released his debut album, DJ of the Future, and singles such as 'Money Honey' (with Scoobie), 'Maaga Man' and 'New Talk' (with Jo 90). His single 'Call Me' included him reading out a phone number that turned out to be a real private phone number, causing his record label to pay compensation. In 1991 he appeared on the Scritti Politti single 'Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me', which reached no. 47 in the UK Singles Chart. In 2001 he had a UK Top 30 hit with Who?, a collaboration with UK garage musician Ed Case.

Sweetie Irie has travelled the world performing at events such as Jamaican Sunsplash, Notting Hill Carnival, international shows in Grenada, Trinidad and at Japan Splash. As well as the artists mentioned above, he has also collaborated with Maxi Priest, Ms Dynamite, No Doubt, Spee, Specialist Moss, Gorillaz, Dub War and Gwen Stefani.

In the early 2000s Sweetie Irie released UK garage material through Middle Row Records. These include 'Extra Extra', 'Holy Morning', 'Todayā€™s the Day' and the Battle of the M.C's track, 'Bite Dem Up'.

He has also presented BBC Television's and Channel 4's programme Flava.

In 2016, Irie featured on a vocal remix of 'Crank It' by Kideko and George Kwali, alongside Nadia Rose. The song peaked at 31 on the Official Singles Chart.

Trivia[]

  • An alternate version of Ed Case's refix of Clint Eastwood was made for Ed's Sound Of The Pirates 2 mixtape in 2001, which featured re-recorded vocals from Sweetie Irie.

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