Prince Blanco

Prince Blanco (aka Mark Matthews) is an award winning singer and musician based in Toronto Canada. Born and raised in the UK, he grew up heavily influenced by classic Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae music along with late ’70s punk rock and the ska-fuelled 2-Tone sound.

‘Prince Blanco & The Rocksteady All-Stars’, a collection of foundation reggae classics, was released in September 2006 followed by ‘Rebel Discotheque’ in May 2008 which featured the top five satellite reggae radio hit ‘Good Times In The Dancehall’. 2008 also saw the release of ‘Don’t Pressurize Me’, Blanco’s first single collaboration with producer Dubmatix and in 2009, ‘Tuff Dub’ with Citizen Sound (aka Aram Scaram). Blanco is also a featured artist on Citizen Sound’s 2010 debut release including co-writing and playing guitar and bass on the summer hit ‘Reggae Is Her Name’ featuring Blessed.

Prince Blanco is the recipient of the 2010 JUNO Award (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award) for Reggae Recording of the Year along with Dubmatix for their single collaboration ‘Gonna Be Alright’. Blanco signed with Renegade Media in January 2011 and his first release for the label, Unify On The Hi-Fi came out in April 2011. In February 2011, Blanco travelled to Australia for the first time, performing 11 dates during a three-week summer tour.

Prince Blanco is the executive producer of ‘Shatter The Hotel: A Dub Inspired Tribute To Joe Strummer’ compilation album released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ in December 2009. Proceeds from the sale of the album benefit the UK based charity Strummerville: The Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music. Blanco along with the Shatter The Hotel project are featured in Don Letts' new documentary ‘Strummerville’ which premiered at SXSW in 2010. He continues to work closely with the Strummerville charity.