Alphonso Martin (born 20 March 1956) is a British musician best known as a

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

for the

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

group

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ro ...

. He joined Steel Pulse in 1976 as a friend of

David Hinds David Hinds (born 15 June 1956) is a British musician and the founding member, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist for the Grammy-winning reggae band Steel Pulse. Life and career Hinds was born in Handsworth, West Midlands, Handsworth, Birming ...

. He played percussion and backup vocals for fifteen years, and also contributed lead vocals on the songs "Shining", "Your House", "Reaching Out", "Soul of My Soul", and "Evermore", until leaving the band in 1991 after the release of '' Victims'' to pursue other interests. He is the father of Shakira Martin, the 2011

Miss Jamaica Universe Miss Universe Jamaica (formerly Miss Jamaica Universe) is a beauty pageant that selects the contestant to represent Jamaica at the Miss Universe beauty pageant. History Although Jamaica started competing at the Miss Universe Pageant in 1961, ...

winner who died aged 30 on 3 August 2016 as a consequence of

sickle-cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying ...

. He lives in Birmingham.

References

1956 births Living people Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands British reggae musicians Steel Pulse members {{percussionist-stub