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Renita Drakes’
calm
exterior masks her multi-talents. The young musician, composer and
artist was born on the Caribbean island of Barbados and has been
writing songs and poetry since she was 10 years old. As a young girl,
her love for music spilled over into the streets when she found herself
jumping in the Kiddies Kadooment that is part of Barbados' yearly
five-week summer festival, "Crop Over".
Renita moved to
Canada in 1988 and continued broadening her musical experience. In
addition to her song and poetry writing Renita started playing a
musical instrument. At the age of 13, she choose "concert band" as an
elective in Secondary School and the saxophone as her instrument. She
went on to hold the lead sax chair in concert and jazz band for several
years.
Ren as she is
affectionately known took a break from the saxophone to concentrate on
other aspects of her many talents. She eventually became the sole
female DJ and MC in the West Indian Sound Crew, Nasty Jag
Productions. With Nasty Jag, her lyrical creations caught the
attention of several people including Maffie. She is also a published
web developer with presence at
renita.ca
and has designed for Maffie and Crew and Continental Entertainment.
Renita joined
Maffie and Crew in the spring of 2004 as a vocalist and has since
resurrected her saxophone. On the sax she lends a cool flavour to the
pulsating rhythms of Maffie and Crew. |
