Benji Webbe

Clive John Webbe was born on 11 March 1967 in Newport to Caribbean parents. His father, originally from St Kitts and Nevis, was brought to the UK on the Windrush ship which brought one of the first groups of West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom. His father arrived in Manchester where he struggled to find a job and moved to Wales instead. Webbe became an orphan at the age of 13 and was raised by his older brother in Newport. He was also involved in drug dealing, but turned his life around with music. == Career==

Webbe was first inspired to perform music after attending a performance by his brother's band. His first group was a sound sytem called Conqueror Hi Power, before joining the band Bismillah. With Bismillah he gained some attention with a performance on the BBC show Ebony in 1984. In 1993 Webbe joined the punk rock group Blood Brothers. At drummer Martyn Ford's insistence, Webbe started performing dancehall style vocals over the band's punk music, and the sound evolved into what became known as Dub War. With Dub War, he released two studio albums, Pain and Wrongside of Beautiful. A third album was in the works before the band split in 1999. Benji left Earache after they refused to let him record a solo album, which was intended to move to a more hip-hop sound. After a short lived project with Robert Trujillo, Mass Mental, which released one studio and one live album, Webbe formed Skindred with former members of Dub War. Due to a dispute with the record label, a new lineup moved to Bieler Bros. As of 2026, Skindred have released nine studio albums. In 2006, Webbe performed with Korn at the 2006 Download Festival, while Korn's lead singer Jonathan Davis was seriously ill, he sang "A.D.I.D.A.S." He has also appeared on Bullet for My Valentine's 2008 album Scream Aim Fire (on "Take It Out on Me"), as well as Soulfly's debut album (on "Quilombo" and "Prejudice"). In 2012, Webbe collaborated with the rap metal band Dirty Wormz on their album Outbreak, appearing on the song "Blood & Fire". In 2015, Webbe released his debut solo album, a purely reggae album entitled ''I Haven't Been Nicking in Ages'', produced by Monsta Boy. He has also been performing intermittently with the reformed Mass Mental and in 2015, Dub War. In 2018, commemorating Black History Month in the United Kingdom, Webbe was included on a list of 100 "Brilliant, Black and Welsh" people. In 2020, Webbe unveiled a new studio project with Dub War bassist Richie Glover, entitled Diamond Spider. The "voodoo blues" project released its debut single in October that year, with a self-titled album due in 2021 along with Dub War's fourth studio album. == Personal life ==

Webbe has four children with his ex-wife and 19 grandchildren. In September 2022, he married his wife Julie Christian in a private wedding ceremony. == Discography ==

Solo discography Skindred discography Dub War discography Diamond Spider discography Mass Mental? discography Collaborations ==References==