Echo Minott was born Noel Phillips in 1963 and grew up in the Maverley area of Kingston, Jamaica. He started singing from an early age, appearing in local talent contests and school concerts. His first break came in 1980 when he recorded the album "Youthman Vibration" for legendary producer Prince Jammy, at the age of 17 years. This album wasn't released in Jamaica and appeared on the Starlight label based in London, U.K.
Now in-demand as an increasingly popular dancehall singer, Echo began recording for many other producers and scored his first Jamaican No. 1 single with the song "Love Problems" produced by Joe Gibbs. He followed this with another hit, "Farmer Man" for the late Henry "Junjo" Lawes' Volcano Records label.
It was in 1985 that Echo Minott finally became an international reggae star with the monster hit "Lazy Body", released on the Black Scorpio label. It was a number one all over the reggae world and led to a whole album of versions to the rhythm. This was swiftly followed by the album "Rock and Calypso" for producer Harry J, which contained the hit singles "Lazy Body", "Rock and Calypso" and the mighty "Uncle Sam Country", which told of his exploits from his visit to America.
Echo hit again in 1986 with the extraordinary track "What The Hell", also for the Jammys label, which remained top of the Jamaican charts for three whole months. This song was the first ever to use the raggamuffin beat of today's dancehall and was an extremely controversial song that inspired many answer versions such as the hit "Babylon Boops" by Lovindeer. This led to Echo recording his own second part "Me and My Girl Gone Back" which was another international reggae dancehall hit. King Jammys followed these hits with the "What The Hell" album and also another big hit "Emmanuel Road", which re-worked an old Jamaican folk song in the dancehall style.
| 
| 
