Bio of Mark Shine Mark Shine was born in London to Jamaican parents and from an early age he knew that he was destined for a career in the entertainment industry. Growing up in the sunny, picturesque island paradise of Jamaica, Shine, the son of a deacon, was raised by his grandmother and gained valuable creative exposure as a member of the choir and dance group at Buff Bay Primary School. He represented Jamaica on the local and international scene in various competitions, becoming bolder and more confident with each engagement. It gradually dawned on him that a musical career beckoned when his father presented him with a "bingi" drum at age nine. By then he had developed such a strong love for shiny clothing that his friends began referring to him as Mark Shine. The name stuck and as his career became more defined he decided to embrace it as his professional name. Shine reminisces about the excitement he would feel whenever he had the opportunity to participate in musical activities, a reaction which was not lost on his shrewd grandmother. "Because my grandmother was a school teacher I had to stay after school and wait for her. She made sure I didn't have idle hands by signing me up for several extra curricular activities," Shine recalls. "I got hooked on the arts and that was it! I realized that I was born to create music and use it as the link that connects people both culturally and spiritually," he explains. While residents recovered from the havoc that Hurricane Gilbert wreaked on Jamaica in 1988, Shine and his brother Desmond penned "Wild Gilbert" their first professional collaboration, which generated industry buzz. The duo followed up with "Let's Give Love A Try", and "One Love One Aim". Eager to find a way to marry the myriad musical influences that inspired him from reggae great Bob Marley to Aswad, Maxi Priest, Steel Pulse, UB40, Dennis Brown, Peter Tosh, Freddie McGreggor, Lionel Ritchie, Eric Clapton, Santana, Lenny Kravitz and Sting - Shine decided to relocate to Mexico as a solo act and "let the vibe take me where it wanted to," he says. In Mexico he collaborated with reggae powerhouse Sly & Robbie and Dean Frasier to produce the album "It's True," his most succesful recording to date. The album also features the bi-lingual singer's first two all-Spanish numbers. With the fiery, exciting, and hedonistic compilation "Crazy Crazy Crazy," Shine teams up with veteran dancehall star Half Pint and a slew of up and coming artists on the recently launched UpFlite Music label to create a musical production that is guaranteed to steam up parties for months to come, while steadily climbing the charts as fans celebrate reggae at its most dramatic and pulsating, thanks to an infectious hook that entices music lovers to dance with abandon, essentially surrendering all their cares to the thrilling rhythm that demands one reaction: nonstop dancing. www.markshine.com www.upflite.com