Teacha Dee

Damion Darrel Warren (born 21 September 1980), best known as Teacha Dee, is a Jamaican reggae singer and former educator. He is best known for his hit singles "Smoke and Fly", "Reggae Souljahs" and "Smuggling Weed". He was a full-time employee for the Ministry of Education Youth and Culture in Jamaica when he recorded all three songs. His stage name was derived from the Jamaican creole for "teacher" and a shortening of his childhood nickname "Demus".

Early life and education Warren was born on 21 September 1980 in Westmoreland, Jamaica. He grew up in a little district called Bath where he attended the Unity Primary School. Being successful in his Common Entrance Exams, he was rewarded a place at the prestigious Manning's School from which he graduated in 1997 before relocating to Montego Bay to live with his mother. Warren then attended the Sam Sharpe Teachers College, where he attained a diploma in education at the secondary level.

Teaching career In September 2000, Warren was employed by the Ministry of Education Youth and Culture to teach Mathematics, Integrated Science and Information Communication Technology. He worked at the Glendevon Primary and Junior High School located in Montego Bay, up until his resignation in May 2012, to pursue entertainment.

During this trip Teacha Dee recorded for several producers. "Symbiz Productions" based in Germany, "Catchy Grezzly" based in Italy and "Soul Force Music" also based in Germany. In October 2011 immediately after his first tour, Teacha Dee released his debut album entitled "Reggae Souljahs: Beating Babylon With Music". This album was released on his own independent record label.

In April 2012, Teacha Dee returned to Europe for a mini tour. On this trip, he performed in Cantu Italy, Bern Switzerland and Oldenburg Germany. He also did repeated performances in Osnabruck and Mannheim. It was during this time he recorded a collaboration with Skarra Mucci entitled "Summer Time" for "Weedy G SoundForce" a Swiss-based label. This was how his affiliation with Weedy G Soundforce for whom he recorded many singles began. In May 2012, Teacha Dee recorded "Sound System" for Reggaeville/Oneness Productions both based in Germany. He also worked with producers such as "Catchy Greezly" based in Italy, Jugglers Music and Deebuzz Music both based in Germany. A total of 12 singles were released that same year for various producers including his own record label.

In August 2013, Teacha Dee and Utan Green collaborated on a single entitled "Reggae Show" on the " Reggae Jam Riddim" which was released at the 19th staging of the Reggae Jam festival held in Bersenbruck, Germany. Teacha Dee was a headliner for this festival.

2014–2017: German reggae charts and sophomore album On 4 July 2014, "Party Day" recorded for Germany-based upcoming producers "Dancehallrulerz" made it to the number one spot on the official German reggae charts. This chart presented by Jugglerz radio and Riddim Magazine, was the official Reggae chart of Germany. "Party Day" held the number one spot on two separate occasions. It went down the charts for a short time before returning to number one spot a few days later. These charts numbered 30/2014 and 33/2014 were posted on 26 August and 22 September respectively.

In July 2015, Teacha Dee released his first artiste mix-tape titled "Rasta Ting". It consisted of 26 tracks which were released within the European market and was presented by Europe's female sound sensation, Big Mama Sound. In that same month at the 21st staging of the Reggae Jam Festival in Bersenbruck, Teacha Dee's performance was reviewed as "one of the most riveting" by irieites.de. Their list of highlights also included David Rodigan, Anthony B, Alpheus, Ken Boothe, Winston Francis and Bitty McLean.

In 2016, Teacha Dee released a total of ten singles. The most successful of these were; "Jah Jah is calling" on the Pac Man Riddim, "Concrete Grave" on the After Berlin Wall Riddim and "Rastafari Way" on the Horn of Africa Riddim. Teacha Dee's major hit of 2016 was "Rastafari Way" which spent 14 days on Beatport's top 100 reggae/dub chart peaking at 44. Another solid performer was "Concrete Grave" which was selected in the top 100 reggae hits of 2016 by Zonareggae.ro based in Romania.

2017–present: Latin American tour and movie placement deal

In July 2017 Reggaeville identified Teacha Dee's performance on Reggaejam as a highlight of the event. Shortly after, he went to Denmark as a headliner and closing act for the Aarhus Reggae Festival held at Voxhall, Aarhus. In July 2018, Teacha Dee was a headliner at the LB27 Reggae Camp Festival held in Cegléd, Hungary.

In May 2019 Teacha Dee went on his first Latin American tour, and was one of the headliners on the International Reggae Festival held in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. This was his closing performance of the Red Jacket Tour, which also had appearances in Spain, Germany, France and Switzerland.

In February 2021, it was announced that the title track from Teacha Dee's sophomore album Rastafari Way was selected to be featured in No Time to Die. This is the 25th film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. In March 2021 Teacha Dee appeared on VERA, a prestigious talk show hosted by award winning Television Presenter and Actress,Vera Russwurm. This programme was aired on one of the four main Austrian public television channels, ORF 2. There he spoke about Jamaica's long relationship with James Bond and the story behind the song, Rastafari Way.

Discography Albums

Singles

Various artists compilations

Appearances

Official mixtapes 2015: Rasta Ting – present by Big Mama Sound

Mixtapes appearances 2005: Young and Sexy Vol 9 – DJ L and DJ Suss one 2006: Young and Sexy Vol 10 – DJ L and DJ Suss One 2008: Bad Boys, We Run This – Urban World Wireless and Bad Boy Records 2009: Rise to the top – DJ Mess and Ghetto Youth Sounds 2009: Austriamaica Vol 1 – by Chiquitaman and San Clemente