Tony Matterhorn leads the way to his mother's house in Portmore on a Wednesday night. It's almost 11:00 pm, the only free time he's had after a long day at the studio cutting specials and dub plates before leaving the island on Thursday.

Obviously in demand, Matterhorn is always on the move. "For the 52 weeks of the year I travel almost every week, only in the summer I'll be in Jamaica for 4 or five

weeks straight, but apart from that I am always…back and forth", he says, lounging in the deck chair on his mom's verandah.

His schedule is jam packed, he used last Memorial Day weekend as an example of his crazy itinerary: Left New York on Thursday for Fort Charlotte, back to NY on Friday then headed to Philly for another gig, then off to Florida early the next Sunday morning where he had yet another engagement in South Beach that night. Talk about frequent flyer miles!

FLYING SOLO

Formerly of King Addies fame, Matterhorn had already made a name for himself before launching his solo career. Initially listeners worldwide knew him from his alliance with the sound system but over time Matterhorn's name became an entity within itself. With his remarkable taste for hard- core dancehall music, he has managed to change the entire musical fraternity over the past 3 years single-handedly. Tony Matterhorn explains that there are hardly any dancehall acts today that are entirely vocalists-most singers have a deejay flavour that is incorporated in their delivery of their work. "You have singers that can swing it… sing-jays like Wayne Marshall, Waynie Wonder, Tony Curtis who can sing on hardcore riddims and don't limit themselves to strictly lovers rock."

WHADDAT: What caused you to leave King Addies?
Tony Matterhorn: Well, me and Babyface had our differences. We were like the best combination on any sound system. We were so perfect as a team that yuh woulda neva know seh me and Babyface nuh really talk. Intelligence made us see beyond our differences. When it come to warring wid a sound…Matterhorn and Babyface jus' clicked… We had confidence in each other. We had the chemistry and everything to work for the fans but behind that him wanted to change me...to make me more like him. I am a jovial outgoing person, I like messing with people and buggin' out while Babyface was more to himself. Two different types of people…he was doing the best thing playing di tune dem. Him nuh socialize wid nuhbady, he was very anti-social.

W: Since you opted to select on your own, as opposed to working on a sound system you find that many selectors have also decided to take that route. The independent d.j. is something that got its roots in the U.S., did the idea to go solo come from watching dj's like Funk Flex or Red Alert?
TM: No not really…they don't take it to the level that I take it to. I take it to a more international level (whereas) they circulate in New York or the tri-state area, and occasionally they will go to L.A. or to the South. I take the music worldwide- the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean.

LADIES FIRST

"95% of my audience is female," says Matterhorn "when I play overseas there is a wide variety of people Jamaicans, West Indians, people from that country, everybody. In Canada, Matterhorn is the biggest act", he says confidently. "If you call any promoter in Toronto and ask them 'if I want to bring somebody to ram a dance' who is the first selector or sound they would pick…it would be Tony Matterhorn."

Matterhorn appeals to all audiences since he plays a great selection of music to cater to all types of listeners. He created history earlier this year during his birthday bash when he had over 2000 persons in attendance.

W: What is it like having so many female fans all of a sudden?
TM: All of a sudden? [NB..Matterhorn is a trip!] When I was on Addies, a 'bear woman mi mek come deh. I'm a man of the ladies from ever since! Right now yuh have a girl in Miami wid a big Tony Matterhorn tattoo on her back. People feel seh me and her deh but we're just friends.

W: What type of music do you play in locations like Toronto and Montreal?
TM: I play reggae, hip- hop, rock and roll, even Backstreet Boys because of the type of crowd, which is like 45% white.