A much loved talent with an astonishing voice and unnerving ability to pen a pop smash, McLean launched himself into the high end of the British charts with a string of top ten hits the early 90s.
Born in 1972, Bitty’s earliest memories were punctuated with the music he would hear courtesy of his father’s sound system, where he started by singing over Jamaican Dub and Instrumental riddims.
In 1992, McLean had not only co-produced and engineered but played and sang on
UB40’s hugely successful album “Promises And Lies” which sold in excess of 8 million
copies.
Bitty’s own material notched up 3 top ten singles in 1994.
The subsequent years saw Bitty accrue a fearsome catalogue of top 30 singles, as well as playing UK arena tours with UB40, Wet Wet Wet and Simply Red.
In 2004, he released the superb “On Bond Street”, in which Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle instrumentals, arranged by the legendary Tommy McCook and The Supersonics formed the basis of the album. Bitty complemented these 35 year old tracks with such elegance it was hard to believe he was not there when the tracks were originally recorded.
Bitty McLean followed up with a major collaboration with the worlds’ greatest rhythm section, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. The trio recorded “MOVIN’ ON”, a brand new studio album with Jamaica’s finest musicians. Featuring the hits “Real Thing”, “Lately” and “Tenderness”, the album came out in 2009 to widespread critical acclaim, as the New York Times hailed “Movin’ On” as the best Reggae album of that year.
Following two tours in Europe with Sly & Robbie and the Taxi Gang, Bitty went back to the studio with the Riddim Twins to record a follow up to “Movin’ On”.
If you like hard rockers sounds as well as Bitty’s trademark sweet voice, his latest offering, ‘The Taxi Sessions’ is for you and is available now.