Lenny Deneb

Lenny Deneb, a St. Lucian born singer/songwriter is a writer of conscience raising songs. His debut album ‘From the Sanctuary’ released under the artist name D7 includes such songs as ‘Pirates’, ‘The Begging Game’, ‘Families At War’, ‘U Can’t Run Nor Hide’ and others that are politically driven and tell stories of social upheavals and lost dreams. However make no mistake, just like his musical heroes Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, REM, Peter Tosh, Steel Pulse, Ocean Colour Scene, U2, The Police, Radiohead and Lenny Kravitz, Lenny’s ultimate underlying message is one of love and that hope is never far away, and also the human spirit can endure much and still emerge victorious. This energetic performer has been described by the British music press as exciting, impressive and intelligent in his writing. His brand of reggae-rock combines the styles and influences of his aforementioned musical heroes, but the end product is all Lenny Deneb. Lenny spent the period between 1998 to the present residing, traveling and working between St. Lucia and London; releasing his debut album ‘From The Sanctuary,’ as well as nurturing a number of young St. Lucian talents namely PCL Krew and One 2 One, and receiving a nomination for Producer of the Year at the first annual St. Lucia Music Awards. Lenny has continued his labour of love of refining the reggae–rock fusion sound, which was discovered by W.O.A International and subsequently signed him to a management and marketing deal for India and the Middle East. Lenny is currently engaged in the production of his second album aptly titled Reggae Rocks. Settle the score is the first single to be release from the album. This track has been included on the WOA Records compilation CD titled ‘Various Artists Independent # 1’s Vol.1. The CD is currently available on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Napster and others. As a solo artiste, in 1985 ‘Mustique Girl’ and ‘Soldiers’ came out as an EP for LED Records and received rave reviews from the Black Echoes and also Capitol Radio disc-jockeys Nicky Horne and David 'Kid' Jenson. The third single for L.E.D Records "Who Or What Turns You On," (recently turned up on the Discog website as a collector's record) received the accolade of record of the week in The Black Echoes music magazine on June 8th 1985. A number of tour dates followed including playing support to Winston Reedy at Sussex University. Following this Lenny recorded a zouk-soca for London based Jamaican producer Bill Campbell titled 'Shakedown Suzanne'. Lenny also wrote 'Standing in the rain' for Judy Boucher, the song appearing on her album 'A new way to say I love you' and has also worked closely with producer Lindel Lewis and guitarist JJ Belle (deceased) of Tina Turner, Lionel Richie, Arrow, Judie Tzuke, Phil Collins and Bob Marley fame. However the journey for this talented songwriter began much earlier. At the age of ten years Lenny migrated to England from St. Lucia, West Indies. Those early years were difficult and learning to cope with the life changes and a new environment. As part of his coping mechanism, Lenny would frequent the local youth and community center affectionately known as 'Saxon' in Mile End, east London, and this is where his love of music was first aroused, and his first music outfit Cygnus (name checked by John Lydon/Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols/PIL as one of his favourite bands at the time) was formed in the late 70’s and later signed to the then newly founded Greensleeves Records now part of VP Records. Cygnus released a number of singles for Greensleeves including 'Babylon (you've got to set Jah children free), Jahman, Thank you for last night and a cover version of the Peter Noone hit 'Silhouettes'. These songs brought the band immediate success including media attention from Black Echoes, Melody Maker, Sounds Magazine, New Musical Express, Caribbean Times, West Indian World, The Jamaican Gleaner and positive comments from top disc-jockeys as David Rodigan and John Peel. Building on this success Cygnus received a licensing deal through Barclay Records in France and Silhouettes was included on a compilation album released by Barclay. This success brought more exposure and the band toured France, Holland, Ireland, Norway and Finland. Cygnus was a pioneering British reggae band appearing in territories such as Norway and Finland long before groups like Aswad and Steel Pulse. John Holt and Errol Dunkley also sought the band's services on a number of tour dates in the UK. The band then followed this with some studio work with London based Jamaican producer John Rubie releasing a number of singles for Rubie’s Freedom Sounds label namely 'Listen to me', 'If you try' and a cover version of McFadden & Whitehead's 'Ain’t no stopping us now', as well as writing the track 'It's not hard' for Jackie Dale, one of Rubie's stalwarts. Cygnus was also the band that provided the backing music for Ijahzif's song ' How can I leave my wife' released via Greensleeves Records. The last major tour for the band was in France in early 1980 when Cygnus appeared on the same bill as Jimmy Cliff. As far as highs go Lenny cites a chance meeting with Bob Marley in the summer of 1980 in London’s West End as one of the most memorable moment he has experienced. Some of those early Cygnus recordings are now being sold as collectors records and can be found on the internet via Ebay and other sites