SKA CUBANO

BIOGRAPHY

"Peter A. Scott is the founder and director of Production for Ska Cubano.They are eleven musicians among others Beny Billy ,Natty Bo , Eddie “Tan Tan”, Megumi Mesaku, Rey Crespo. Juan Manuel Villy Carbonell (Beny Billy), is Santiago’s Mr Ska, ex-boxer, one-time hard-drinking rebel at war with the musical establishment, extraverted natural entertainer, self-taught tres player and conjurer, his wacky image captured in a thousand tourist photographs.When his mother died, he just fell into an alcoholic hole for years, and nearly died in the gutter; His salvation was and is his voice : gentle, warm, rich, slightly cracked, strongly reminiscent of Beny Moré (the legendary Cuban singer of the 1950’s who drank himself to a premature death); some “unreleased rarities”, supposedly by Benny Moré, are Beny Billy demos doctored up by crooked foreign producers. The resemblance is so close that his voice has been used for the soundtrack of a film biography of Beny Moré (""El Barbaro del Ritmo"") released in 2005. Nathan Lerner (Natty Bo), born in London,he is director and producer of Ska Cubano, is an artist without boundaries - talented painter and sculptor, one-time circus performer, D.J., songwriter, producer and singer with major London ska band, Top Cats. Eddie “Tan Tan” Thornton (Trumpet).Casual superlatives suck, but “legendary” is just how everyone describes Tan Tan. Born in 1932, he found himself at Kingston ’s Alpha Boys School where the “jazz nun”, Sister Ignatius, was the inspirational guide and teacher who turned wayward boys into Jamaica’s greatest musicians; ABS was consequently the cradle of ska, reggae and Jamaican jazz. After several years in the emerging jazz scene of Germany , Tan Tan arrived in London , where his extraordinary talent was quickly recognised. For producers and big-name rock musicians of the sixties and seventies his became the most sought-after trumpet of the era .His recording and performing credits include The Beatles, Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, Boney M, and his all-time favourite, Jimi Hendrix, while he continued to play in between times with top jazz, ska and reggae .More recently he has feautured in the horn section anchors of the Jools Holland Band, as well as Jazz Jamaica and the Jazz Warriors. Megumi Mesaku (Alto sax / Baritone sax). From Osaka via Chiba City near Tokyo, at 9 years old “Miss Megoo” was already saxophonist with a brass band and by 14 was solo-ing in a festival orchestra. Later in her teens she began blowing her horn with Tokyo-based township jive and East African rumba bands before moving on to a jump blues group). She fell for Ska while DJ-ing in Tokyo clubs and sought out Gaz Mayall, then touring Japan with his Trojans. The Trojans included husband–to–be Natty Bo, with whom she moved to London where they put together Britain’s wildest ska outfit, Top Cats. Rey Crespo (Double bass and co-musical director).Born in Havana to a mother who herself was a famous singer, Rey spent 10 years at Cuba’s premiere music academies, studying composition, arrangement, guitar and bass. His emergence as a professional musician -bass virtuoso and bandleader- came via recording and performing with great Cuban artists such as Omara Portuondo, Elena Burke, Cachao, sonero mayor Raul Planas and the legendary Ruben Gonzalez. During this time he also worked with Peter Scott of casinosounds. In 1997 he re-llocated to London and participated in tours by major stars including Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and Africando, later forming his own bands. "