He is a singer-songwriter and musician born Clement
Ashley Banks on the island of Anguilla.When he was young his brother showed him how to play
some chords on the guitar and then when he was 9 years old he built his
own.This was enough for him
to progress into a career in music as the years went on and by the time he
was 14 he was performing with local bands and a decade later in 1977 he saw
his first success when his "Prince of Darkness" became a hit.In 1983 he appeared at the Reggae
Sunsplash and would repeat that again nine years later in 1992. Following his first performance there
he toured the Caribbean with his band The Roots & Herbs and then after
a change in the line-up they travelled to Europe, where they spent the next
three years.The group split
up in 1987 and, following the untimely death of his younger sister, he
returned to Anguilla.Not
staying on the island too long, he was soon in New York appearing as Bankie
Banx & The New York Connection, but still returned yearly and created
the annual Moonsplash Music Festival held there since 1991. His name is now
internationally known with him performing with and/or playing host
at his beach bar with artists such as Black Uhuru, Jimmy
Buffett, Peter Cetera, Jimmy Cliff, Bob
Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Ritchie Havens, Paul
Simon
, Third World
and Toots and the Maytals to name a few. Albums he has appeared on include his own such as Island
Boy, Roots & Herbs/Chariots of Steel and Still in Paradise as
well as Live in Anguilla
by Jimmy
Buffett and the award-winning soundtrack
of the movie Southie. Very involved in charitable and educational
projects he founded the music and art educational program Project Stingray in
2005 and has also raised over $100,000 for his local charities, hurricane
relief and victims of the volcano in Montserrat.
