Dean Bent (born January 1971), better known as Sweetie Irie, is a British reggae singer and DJ.

Biography

Born in London in 1971, Dean Bent began working on local sound systems as a teenager, bringing him to the attention of Angus Gaye of Aswad, who recruited him to toast on the dancehall mix of their single "On and On". He was signed by the Island Records subsidiary Mango Records, and in 1991 released his debut album, DJ of the Future, and singles such as "Money Honey" (with Scoobie), "Maaga Man" and "New Talk" (with Jo 90). His single "Call Me" included him reading out a phone number that turned out to be a real private phone number, causing his record label to pay compensation. In 1991, he appeared on the Scritti Politti single "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me", which reached no. 47 in the UK. In 2001, he had a UK Top 30 hit with "Who?", a collaboration with Ed Case.

Through his music, Sweetie Irie has travelled the world performing at events such as Jamaican Sunsplash, Notting Hill Carnival, international shows in Grenada, Trinidad and all the way to Japan Splash. As well as the artists mentioned above, he has also collaborated with Maxi Priest, Ms Dynamite, No Doubt, Spee, Specialist Moss, Gorillaz and Gwen Stefani.

Sweetie Irie has been releasing material for the UK garage scene through Middlerow Records for the last four years. These include "Extra Extra", "Holy Morning", "Today’s The Day" and the Battle of the M.C's track, "Bite Dem Up".

He has also presented BBC Television's and Channel 4's programme Flava.

References ^ a b c d e Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p. 287 ^ Ed Case & Sweetie Irie, ChartStats, retrieved 2010-01-23 Authority control MusicBrainz: afebcfe2-989d-49a1-9131-00ee84e88b6f