Born Benville A. Gustaffe to Susan and Charles Gustaffe, Raggs began singing in church at eight years old. In 1975 Raggs heard the Bob Marley and The Wailers album Catch A Fire and decided, " I wanna play reggae. I was really impressed. It moved me." Growing up in Jamaica he was influenced by great reggae artists like Dennis Brown,Third World, The Heptones, Culture, Beres Hammond, Isreal Vibration, The Mighty Diamonds, Big Youth, Burning Spear, Black Uruhu, and of course Bob Marley. He also remembers listening to American radio beaming out from west Palm Beach, Florida and hearing the Motown groups like The Commodores, The O'Jays, The Spinners, and The Jackson 5. Raggs loved the consistency of these artists. "When I do an album, I want every song to be good like theirs. That has been my goal ever since I started recording." Raggs started his career as a singer/drummer in the parks in Kingston, Jamaica in 1979. He then went on to play with a band that entertained the hotel circuit. From there Raggs moved to Germany, to experiment with his musical talents with 'International Rockers', a Berlin based reggae band. While with them he toured England, Belgium, Amsterdam, and Paris. In 1988 Raggs began singing and playing drums on board Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. In 1990 Raggs moved to the United States and has played for audiences in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California, and Canada with a Seattle based reggae band. After completing an Asian tour in 1996 Raggs formed Raggs and Bush Doktor. Raggs has been promoting his current album Tenacity, while in the studio working on new material