Dean Bent (born January 1971), better known as Sweetie Irie, is an English reggae singer and DJ. Sweetie Irie began working on local sound systems as a teenager, bringing him to the attention of Angus Gaye of Aswad, who recruited him to MC on the dancehall mix of their single "On and On" which went on to be number one in sixty two countries, He was then signed by Island Records and in 1991 released his debut album “DJ of the Future” which went gold. It’s fair to say Sweetie dominated the nineties “Reggae Dancehall” scene notching up a record breaking eight number ones in the Dancehall charts. Sweetie is no stranger to the national charts having a top 30 with Aswad “smile” and a top 40 with Scritti Politti “take me in your arms” in 1999 Sweetie joined up with UKG outfit Middle Row and went on to collaborate on the Gorillaz hit single “Clint Eastwood” which charted at number two and also went platinum, he then followed that with a top 30 single “Who” which led him to signing a major deal with Sony Bmg.
In 2016 Sweetie teamed up with ministry of sound and contemporary artist Nadia Rose to release their single “Crank It” which was championed by BBC Radio 1 and went on to be a top 20 hit.
2017 Sweetie performed on a special edition of Top Of The Pops and also performed on the BBC proms as the first Reggae artist to do so. In 2018 sweetie collaborated with Redlight on their single “Zum Zum.”
Sweeties live show is legendary with his distinctive trademark husky vocals and high energy he never fails to light up the place. He has been touring the world extensively for the last 3 decades and has performed on all the major festivals like Glastonbury, Wireless, Love box, Boom town, Innovation in the sun, Beats for love, One Love festival, Jamaica Reggae sunsplash, Rebel Salute, Japan splash, Ibiza Rocks, Radio 1 Ushuaia and more.
As well as the artists mentioned above, he has also collaborated with No Doubt Gwen Stefani, Ian Brown, Sly and Robbie, Bobby Digital, Maxi Priest, Shy Fx, Congo Natty, Roni Size, Redlight, Zinc, Ms Dynamite to name a few. In the last few years Sweetie has teamed up with legendary drum and bass producer Benny Page , they have been perfecting a new sound which is a mix of Sweetie’s Reggae Dancehall Roots’s and Benny’s drum and bass, Jungle Roots which resulted in the popular album “Purple.’
In 2019 Sweetie appeared on the Shy Fx Raggamuffin sound tape album with a absolute scorcher of a tune (Rudeboy Lovesong) with super model Cara Delevingne.
Sweetie also featured on Afro beats legendary producer Julz colour tape album (Radar)
2020 saw Sweetie team up with Blaise and Nono for the Jin Jin label (Good Body), which regularly appeared on Love Island. 2021 sees Sweetie working on exciting projects set to be your dance anthems with the echo of his signature voice…
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