Article about Skinny Fabulous

Article from Jamaica Observer by Kevin Jackson,
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Skinny Fabulous scores with Head Bad

Skinny Fabulous... I incorporated a lot of dancehall elements into my music and for that I got a lot of criticisms

His family knows him as Gamal Doyle. To soca music fans, he is Skinny Fabulous, a name he got because of his obvious slender frame.

Skinny Fabulous has taken the Caribbean by storm with his smash single Head Bad (On De Spot). And while that single sits atop the charts in Trinidad and Tobago, the BVI, Toronto, Barbados, Antigua and in his native St Vincent & the Grenadines, Skinny's follow-up single No More Long Talk featuring Blakey looms in the number four spot in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Skinny Fabulous is a multifaceted artiste. The fabulousness comes with the music. My name is a collection and coming together of my personality and passion for music," Skinny said in an interview recently at the University of the West Indies (Mona) where he is currently pursuing a first degree in Media and Communications.

His interest in music developed while he was attending secondary school back home in St Vincent & the Grenadines. 'My school teacher gave us an assignment to write something and instead of writing, I came and I sang it and the class got all hyped up and my head began to swell.

That's where I figured it was something that I should do professionally. From there I entered talent shows and performed at school functions and then I began to make professional links in the music business," Skinny explained.
Prior to his foray into soca music, Skinny had worked on projects with Jamaican dancehall artistes Predator, Zumjay and the Daseca producers.

Asked if he was surprised at the recent turn of events in his career, the soca artiste who has entered the St Vincent Soca Monarch competition three times before said, "I knew it would've been a hit. It's not a shock but a pleasant surprise'. He added 'The response from people here in Jamaica, the lecturers on campus and the students is just an uplifting feeling. It's good to finally get the respect as a talented artiste, but it's not so much of a head swell yet'.

The musical journey for Skinny Fabulous has been a rough one. He has survived criticisms and numerous obstacles. "I incorporated a lot of dancehall elements into my music and for that I got a lot of criticisms. Jamaica is similar to St Vincent and the Grenadines and the passion for dancehall music is the same. What drives us St Vincentians is really soca music," Skinny said.

Since the success of Head Bad (On de Spot), Skinny's stocks have risen. He travels overseas quite frequently for performances. He is scheduled to perform in New York this wekend and heads to St Lucia is next while on October 24 Barbados will be the next stop. In November he will head to Germany, while this weekend he will invade Miami Carnival.
'It's a long list of shows that I have been booked for.
Sometimes it can be pressuring in terms of the school work', Skinny concluded.