VINCENT NAP
Interview by Norman Darwen at Band On the Wall, Manchester, England

VN: "Well, I got started in 1982 as a roadie for King Sounds & The Israelites and went on from there to work with Aswad in the same capacity. I started to MC shows for them on stage and I got quite good at that, so they required me to MC for them. So gradually, it was my intention to sing from when I was quite young - I was born in Jamaica but in my earlier days I was involved in cricket but it didn't quite happen for me, so I decided to pursue the music and that was my way in. When I got to London I realised that to sing is a different ballgame. You have to learn, you have to get involved, it's not just you have to open your mouth and sing. So I served my apprenticeship on the road with King Sounds & the Israelites and Aswad, and it was a very good apprenticeship, even though it took me a long time to get started because I almost made a career out of being an MC at one time, being a roadie and stuff like that. It wasn't my intention, my intention was to sing. My opportunity came when Aswad went through a transformation and a couple of the stars from the Israelites, which is my producer now, Clifton Bigga Morrison, was no longer playing with Aswad. I kind of felt that the only reason for my association with Aswad was because of Bigga and Martin (Augustin), because they used to be Israelites people, so when they was no longer working with Aswad, I decided to leave.

I decided to start my own band, that was like 1987, I started then, I'm with the same band now. It took a while but then I realised that even if you wanted to sing, you need to learn certain things like stagecraft and learning to play with musicians and stuff like that also. Yeah, I pursued it and a couple of years ago I finally managed to complete my first album also, which is 'Good Things Come'.

So, my experience? I don't have a lot of bad things to say apart from that I wish there would be an easier way for us to succeed. But other than that I don't have much complaining because I realise that not just in the music business but in life in general what you put in is what you get out. If you don't put much in you won't get much out. I know that it's quite difficult for us right here at the moment but I'm relishing the battle - because it's a hell of a battle. I'm relishing the battle. It's a hell of a struggle, believe me, in a way, but we have come this far. We're going through with it and we're enjoying it so far. I'm very grateful, I'm very grateful." - Norman Darwen