By Marsha Graham—-
Don Zee was born Dwayne Benjamin on January 21, 1989, in the parish of Clarendon.
He moved to St. Catherine (Spanish Town) at a very early age. He attended the Eltham Park Primary school, and wrote his first song while in the 5th grade. He grew up in a family where his parents were of different lifestyles, his mother was a God fearing person, who went to church on a regular basis, and his father was a Sound System Operator who was always at dances and parties.
His mother and father got separated, and Dwayne would visit his father when school was on holidays. While on holiday with his father, they would go to parties together and from those experiences, Dwayne developed his real love for music and started writing more songs. During that time, he kept his talent to himself. It wasn’t until the 10th grade, when Dwayne began to showcase his talent by going to recording studios and began performing in his community.
Inspired by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Barrington Levy, and Sizzla Kalonji, Dwayne left high school in 2006. His older brother Damion “Star-D” Benjamin, was by then a professional musician (bassist) and living in Kingston. Damion had also developed an extra talent in making rhythms. It was after the death of their mother, Beverly Benjamin in 2007, when Dwayne and Damion decided to come together to start on a musical journey. They worked together making rhythms and recording songs from their home studio, STAR-D PRODUCTION, in the Waterford community of Portmore. A name-change was in the works.
Don Zee’s consistency and hard work lead to his song “Mek Di Money” started getting airplay on one of Jamaica’s leading radio stations. As a result, other songs like “Irie” “Good Time” “Money Problem” and “Father” were put in rotation at various stations. “Irie” was recently sent to The Foundation Radio Network headed by veteran broadcaster Clinton Lindsay, who immediately added “Irie” to his playlist. Mr. Lindsay is showing a lot of interest in Don Zee’s music, saying he likes what he hears from Don Zee thus far. And with this kind of major exposure in the North American market, great things are expected from the brother-collaboration of Don Zee the singer, and Damion the musician/producer.
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