Born 1976 in Georgetown, Guyana, as Jomo Proctor, he attended Craig Nursery School and also had some of his primary schooling at the Houston Community Primary School, East Bank Guyana.
In 1986, he migrated to the USA where he completed his formal education by graduating from Staten Island College, New York, with an Associate Degree in Business Management.
He is at present a licenced carpenter for the Motor Transport Authority in New York.
Also known as Kapa Shanti, through his grandmother who was an active churchgoer, he enjoyed hearing his grandmother singing her song-keys.
While walking home from school he would hear reggae music blasting from music boxes of some his favourite artistes such as Gregory Isaacs, Freddy Mc Greggor, Bob Marley, Yellow-man etc.
But what really inspired him to pick up the microphone and following his dreams as a singer and performer happened one day while he was looking at an underground tape hosted by David Levy from Barbados now a radio DJ on one of the international channels in America (WBLS).
He saw Ninja Man, Lieutenant Stitchie and others performing, but none of them stood out and took him with amazement like Shabba Ranks. To him Shabba was his true inspiration to music.
Kapa Shanti said that his first performance in front of a live crowd was in a five-man competition. He finished fifth place. He felt so cheated although he knew that he was nervous and his legs were shaking like Elvis Presley’s. However, all in all he did not allow that experience to sway his musical desire.
His next big show was at Syracuse University in the USA when he opened for Machel Montano. There he got the confidence booster from the favourable crowd response to his performance. That was followed up by calls from various promoters to open for more and more big name artistes.
That list included Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Pinchers, Sparrow, and many others among them Guyanese artistes Natural Black, Zebulun, First-Born, Yonnette Hooper, and Redemption.
Kapa Shanti has been recording continuously and recently he collaborated with Pinchers and Keisha Martin from Jamaica to produce a song to help raise funds for Haiti to help with the rebuilding process.
He has recorded several singles including the more popular songs such as Money and No Mata.
You can find Kapa Shanti at www.myspace.com/kapashantigt, and also on www.facebook.com/kapashanti. As he prepares to head Guyana’s way for the upcoming Guyanese Music Splash on April 19 at Thirst Park and the Guyana Artistic Music awards on April 25 at the National Cultural Centre he is encouraging Guyanese to look out for his soon to be released album titled ‘Pressure DI Poor.’
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