Clayton Brown was born and raised in the Parish of Trelawny, Jamaica before moving to the UK in 1995. Growing up in Jamaica, surrounded by the influences of dancehall music, Clayton Brown, aka Bongo Chilli, has integrated his concern for today’s youth with this particular music genre to become a ‘lyrical entertainer’. His eldest brother was a strong influence on him, bringing home the latest tapes on the Reggae/Dancehall music scene. Clayton first got the name Chilli while attending Holmwood Technical High School in Manchester, Jamaica. He then went on to add Bongo to it out of respect for the Rastafarian Culture.
When he was ten years old, Clayton began to write his own lyrics and he had his first record release entitled “Nah De-focus” in 2001 on Humal Records from Birmingham, UK. Since then he’s had releases out on other UK labels including Third Eye Music, Sativa Records, Cosmic Web & Function Records. More recently he has hooked up with Walsall based Producer Mexican to release a single entitled “She’s A Beauty” on the Gone Music record label.
Bongo Chilli achieved a lifetime ambition in November of 2005 with the launch of his own record label, ‘Bongo Chilli Records.’ Three 12 inch vinyls has been released on the label so far, “Bashy Fashy” by D-Bo General and “Sound Like” and “My Address” by Bongo Chilli himself. His debut album “Real Musician” was released in 2007 as a joint venture on Sativa Records and Bongo Chilli Records. All releases on Bongo Chili Records are produced by resident producer Rogue State with remixes by Beny Page, Jaydan & Visionary.
On the International scene Bongo has releases out on labels including: Bassrunner Productions from Austria, Rebel Cuts & Big Belly Records from Germany & Roots Survival Records from France. He also has two tracks namely “The Truth” and “Wine Mek Me See You” on San Francisco based producer Kush Arora’s album “The Dread Bass Chronicles.” He gives serious thanks to Daddy Freddy for taking him under his wing and bringing him on tour throughout Europe.
He has honed the ability to enhance arguably any instrumental with his conscious and often humorous style. He believes in writing positive sensible lyrics, which contain no profanity. In line with this, Bongo Chilli has worked in schools to help children increase their growing vocabularies in various subjects such as English, Mathematics and Mental Ability.
