Papa Michigan aka Baddingo

Anthony Fairclough was born on August 23 1960 in Kingston Jamaica. Papa Michigan attended Allman Town Primary, Kingston Secondary which is now Kingston High and Tivoli Garden High.
Back in 1970, the fabled Studio One made a come back thanks to a new slate of acts that rocked the dance halls. They included Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott and a deejay duo named Papa Michigan and General Smiley.
Papa Michigan started out his career back in the Kingston two miles area called Union Garden on a sound system "Black Ivory". That sound system “Black Ivory” changed its name or split into a new sound called "Third World".
That’s where Michigan and Smiley met, dee jaying on the area sound system. Papa Michigan then moved on to "Echo Tone" where he learned a lot of dee jaying skills while attending Tivoli Garden High School in the evening and attending Kingston High in the morning.
Being a cadet for a period of time, Papa Michigan decided he wanted to become an officer, as Private Fairclough sounded too small, and Captain Fairclough sounded much better. He then attended Tivoli High permanently after it was discovered he was an excellent goal keeper. He played Manning Cup for two years, going to the finals, but could only walk away with the Walker Cup in 1978.
While attending Tivoli Garden High he wrote and performed his first two songs "Rub a Dub Style" and "Nice Up De Dance” which became an instant hit on the Studio One label.
The duo was introduced to Sir Coxsone by Raggamuffin of Black Harmony Sound System now creating the way for Michigan and Smiley.
They got out of the block quickly, hitting local charts with "Rub A Dub Style" in 1978 and followed up the next year with “Nice Up De Dance.”
More hits like “One Love Jamdown”, “Diseases”, and “Sugar Daddy” solidified their place in reggae history. The aforementioned hits, except “One Love Jamdown” which was written by Jahnet Enwright, were all written by Papa Michigan who has continued to write, record, produced and distribute through his Rashanco Music label and perform ground breaking material as a solo artist.
Michigan has released numerous singles and albums independently including the acclaimed "Its All Good" album in 2004 featuring the under ground single "400 Years".
His newest material now released digitally on I-Tunes and others, includes hits like "Barack Obama" or "1st Black President", "Husla", "Theze Streetz", "Independent Ladies" and of course the title track "Love Iz". The single “Love Iz” has been receiving heavy rotation world wide and on Sirrius Satellite radio. “Dangerous Diseases” features a remix with singer songwriter Tarrus Riley. “Theze Streetz” was accompanied with sweet harmony by Al Campbell. “Hustla” was played by Papa Michigan's son and harmony by his daughter. Veteran musicians all teamed to help make this album a master piece. The album fuses a street wise Hip Hop, R & B flavor with reggae, to create a current and relevant sound, keeping up with the times.
His latest lyrics showcase his incredible lyrical gift which has only grown stronger over his 30+ year career.
Now is Papa Michigan's time. Having performed solo across Jamaica, Europe, Canada, Hawaii and the United States Papa Michigan has polished his performances and is poised to make 2010 his biggest and brightest year with the release of a new album and international tour!