The group started in 1996 with Troy Azore, Shawn Williams and Anthony Smith with the trio going to the Blacka, a part of the Lamaha Canal that parallels Guyhoc Park and its environs, and listening to and singing songs by internationally known reggae artistes like Buju Banton, Luciano and the late Garnett Silk. Their primary inspiration at that time was Buju Banton’s phenomenal Til Shiloh album.

The trio began composing their own songs, the first being Nazarite. They then went to Mr. Russell Lancaster who lived in nearby in Tucville. Lancaster introduced them to Compton Garret, who at the time was running his farm at Soesdyke. When Garett first heard them, he only offered his encouragement, but the second time he listened to the trio perform, he invited them to that year’s Nyabinghi Celebrations. Garett then decided to leave his farm and manage the group fulltime, and later, his son, Trayon Garett, joined up with the group. The group expanded again when Lambert Semple, a former schoolmate of the original trio saw them perform and asked to get into the act. The group went through several changes over the following years: it expanded to eight members, two of whom “moved on”, including founding member Anthony Smith; one member left the country; and the fourth, Lancaster, went fulltime into advertising. The four remaining members inducted Rolston Richmond into the group and the five have been First Born ever since.

The recent years have seen the group performing with better known reggae artistes like their inspiration, Buju Banton, Mikey General, the legendary Freddy McGregor, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Glen Washington, reggae icon Gregory Isaacs, Luciano (with whom they recorded their “Sweet Guyana”) and more recently they performed in Barbados with popular reggae singer Sizzla. They also opened for Shaggy in Suriname.

Now, the rising stars of Guyanese reggae, First Born, are set to have their new album, entitled Confident, launched next week in England. The new album was composed in Jamaica by Phillip “Fattis” Burrel of Xterminator Productions, with tracks being recorded at Anchor Studios, Leggo Studios and Steven Stanley Studios. The new album includes tracks like ‘Wrath of Jah’, ‘I Still Love You’, ‘Ganja Herb’, “Better World, Better Place”. and “Listen Up”. The group expects to make a bigger impact with Confident, than they did with their debut album, Exodus Chapter XIII Verse 2.

They aren’t getting into details but they did mention that while they will not travel to England for the official launch, they are still going to make their presence felt there through the use of some modern communications technology.