Tony Fair-I is a reggae artist who speaks, feels and lives music as the ”Universal Language“ of today.  Born and raised in Toronto, he started playing guitar at the age of seven and honed his craft with years of competition in school and the American Guild circuit.  After jamming and building his skills with veteran professional players of instruments like Tony Campbell and Raffa Dean in Toronto, he made the necessary stride from being a solo guitar to become a player for the band the Movements and then formed a new group called Inity, which he lead in both guitars and vocals. He then later participated actively for four years in the competitive music community in Atlanta, where he opened a commercial recording facility, started Tru Livity Records and formed the band Dread Eagle. Tony has had the opportunity to play on stage at many venues in both Canada and the US, performing both cover songs by classic artists like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Maxwell, and also his bands’ originals to considerable acclaim. Tony has all the way along this journey strived to distil and integrate his song-writing and playing into a force with a firm foundation in roots and knowledge that can be heard in its essence as the spirit of Jah. 

Tony Fair-I is a true Rastaman living cleanly in the modern context, maintaining an unwavering communication with the Almighty and a constant quest for knowledge and wisdom. He is an avid reader and thirsts for learning.  Given the chance recently to write a song about one of the most inspiring men, learners and teachers to have ever walked this earth, he jumped at the opportunity. ”Dr. Martin“ (written by Tony and co-produced by Django Griffiths with live instrumentation at Slamm Productions) was released on the critically-acclaimed, well-received Dream On compilation as part of a large-scale American national awareness-raising initiative in November 2008. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has influenced him on many levels especially musically.  Like Dr. King, Tony feels that if we can break down the walls of oppression and hatred this world will be a better place to live in.  His main goals in writing music and in life are thus to inspire, pass on knowledge and love. He articulates, ”Music today is so filled with sex, drugs and violence that it is time for conscious people to arise and write tunes to uplift people, not to encourage them to do wrong.“

Perpetually learning and writing new songs, Tony is now forming a band and performing his tunes with a fellow guitarist Ian Lodge in Toronto. Simultaneously, finishing touches are being put on his first full album as solo artist, appropriately named ”SoulJah.“. Tru Livity Records will release Tony’s SoulJah album later in 2009, featuring lyrically relevant songs like Dr. Martin, the Calling, and Universal Language, from which the next quote is drawn: ”There is no need to debate, you don’t need to translate, there is only one way to communicate, it’s the Universal Language.  There is one thing that we can all interpret or understand: good music.  Please keep good music alive and let’s celebrate with each other and unite.“