| MC Kinky | |
| Birth Name: | Caron Liza Geary |
| Birth Date: | 15 October 1963 |
| Birth Place: | Paddington, London, England |
| Origin: | Kilburn, North West London, England[1] [2] |
| Genre: | Ragga, dancehall |
| Years Active: | –present |
| Label: | More Protein |
| Alias: | Feral, Feral is Kinky, Feral a.k.a. MC Kinky, Cantankerous, The Infidel, Special K[3] |
| Associated Acts: | E-Zee Possee, Jesus Loves You, Erasure, Boy George, Flight, Natacha Atlas, Jam & Spoon, Gwen Stefani, Towa Tei, Endymion |
Caron Liza Geary (born 15 October 1963 in Paddington, London), known by various stage names, is an English female raggamuffin toaster. She was the world's first white female reggae/dancehall MC, and the first dancehall MC ever, to chat reggae-inspired lyrics over house music.[4] [5]
According to Geary, her first recorded track was over the dub version of "Kid Ralph", a dancehall track by Little Twitch.[6] [7] [8] The song, unbeknown to her, spoke about a "legendary" homosexual figure in Jamaica's prison system.Her track. was called "Reggae gone Kinky" and the dubplate was recorded at Music House in Finsbury Park. [9] She has subsequently worked as a solo artist and with other musicians, including Erasure and Boy George, who described her music as "the dirtiest 'slackest' reggae I'd heard since the seventies".[10]
Growing up in Marylebone (a predominantly Jamaican neighbourhood),[11] Geary was exposed to reggae from a very young age. It was this precocious exposure to Reggae music and Caribbean culture, which inspired her to write in her inimitable style on early releases such as "Kipsey' and "Everything Starts with an 'E'" as part of E-Zee Possee, which was banned by the BBC because of its lyrics and initially made No. 69 in the UK Singles Chart in 1989, leaving the chart after only one week; [12] however it was re-released less than a year later in March 1990 and climbed to No. 15 on the UK chart,[12] spending eight weeks in the chart.[12]
Kinky's first solo single, the Apollo 440 produced "Get Over It",[13] reached No. 95 on the UK Singles Chart. Her only solo top 75 hit, coming five years later, was Everybody, released under the name "Kinky", which charted at No. 71 on that chart. Her first demo recording was taken without her knowledge by Boy George and recorded with her programmer at the time Simon Rogers. It was this demo that Boy George turned into Generations of Love, which retained her bass line and keyboard melody. The writing credits reflect her contribution.
Kinky has been touring underground, occasionally providing vocals for other artists. In 1997, she took a residency in Ibiza as "the Infidel",[11] operating under the name for a week[14] before writing an album called Cantankerous and taking up the name for herself.[11] When a member of staff at Club Motherfucker described her sound as "feral pop",[6] she became "Feral" and finally ended up with "Feral a.k.a. MC Kinky"[15] and "FERALisKINKY"[16]
Descriptions of Geary's sound have varied from a "bass driven, vitriolic sonic hybrid of grimy electronic ragga, manic house and punk rock"[5] to a "white female raggamuffin toaster".[17] Kinky has denounced these descriptions, saying "I can't be bothered with people who spend large amounts of time trying to place people and music into small and narrow categories. I do what comes naturally to me, and it usually has a combination of influences."[17]
| Year | Single | UK chart position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | "Get Over It"[18] | 95 | |
| 1991 | "Inna We Kingdom" | — | |
| 1992 | "Won Love" | — | |
| 1992 | "Twisting The Mind" | — | |
| 1996 | "Everybody" (as "Kinky")[19] | 71 |
| Year | Single | UK chart position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | "Everything Starts with an 'E'" (E-Zee Possee ft. MC Kinky)[20] | 69 | |
| 1990 | "Everything Starts with an 'E'" (re-entry) (E-Zee Possee ft. MC Kinky) | 15 | |
| 1990 | "Generations of Love" (Jesus Loves You ft. MC Kinky)[21] | 80 | |
| 1991 | "Generations of Love" (re-entry) (Jesus Loves You ft. MC Kinky) | 35 | |
| 1992 | "Take a Chance on Me" (Erasure ft. Special K)[22] | 1 track from Abba-esque | |
| 1992 | "Flight" (Flight ft. MC Kinky)[23] | — | |
| 1995 | "Yalla Chant" (She A Baad Gal Edit; Natacha Atlas ft. MC Kinky)[24] | — | |
| 2000 | "The Chase" (Giorgio Moroder vs. Jam & Spoon ft. MC Kinky) | — | |
| 2001 | "We Love" (Storm ft. MC Kinky)[25] | — | |
| 2006 | "Wind It Up" (Abashment Electro House Mix; Gwen Stefani ft. MC Kinky)[26] | — | |
| 2013 | "Raging in the Dancehall" (Endymion & The Viper ft. FERAL is KINKY) | — | |
| 2013 | "Heavy Medication Punx Soundcheck" (Endymion Remix ft. FERAL is KINKY) | ||
| 2014 | "Reload" Endymion ft. FERAL is KINKY | ||
| 2013 | "Bring Dat" (Daishi Dance ft. FERAL is KINKY) | — | |
| 2017 | "Militant" Will Sparks & Tyron Hapi (ft. FERAL is KINKY) | — |
| Year | Song | |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | "Kipsy" (Boy George ft. MC Kinky)[27] | |
| 1995 | "Son of Bambi (Walk Tuff)" (Towa Tei ft. MC Kinky) |
