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AIDONIA

Born Sheldon Aitana Lawrence on April 6, 1981, Aidonia is the second of four children for his mother who was a teacher, and his father an ex-soldier. Aidonia took his stage name from the first two letters in his middle name ‘Aitana’, and ‘Donia’, a name which he earned while playing football.

Aidonia attended Mona Heights Primary, then Meadowbrook High School where he had the misfortune of being expelled while in 6th Form. Aidonia’s special love for music began in 1994 while he was still attending Meadowbrook High School. It all started after watching a tape of Sting 1993, which features the infamous clash between Beenie Man, and Bounty Killer. That performance inspired Aidonia and he immediately got his mind set on becoming a deejay.

After Aidonia intently watched the Bounty/Beenie clash on the Sting 1993 tape, he began re-enacting their performances for his classmates and friends, whom recognised his talent at that time. Aidonia later started writing his own lyrics and formed the JAG1 (Jah A Guide) crew with some friends.

After Aidonia was expelled from school, he migrated to the United States to live with his father, and later started working at FedEx. For the next three years, he would visit Jamaica regularly, and did a few ‘minor’ things on the dancehall scene in New York. While in New York, he was encouraged by some to return to Jamaica in order to get his career going; he did just that.

On his return, he met deejay Mr. G who was known as Goofy back then. He began working with Goofy and later recorded his debut single ‘Many a Dem’ in October 2003 on Goofy’s Young Blood label. Soon after, he began working with Rod Pinnock of Orizen Entertainment, and in early 2004, he became a popular performer at a weekly event called “Battle Thursdays”, where he got some recognition and had the opportunity to work on honing his performance skills.

In the later part of 2004, Aidonia was approached by Cordell “Skatta”‘ Burrell who invited him to record at his studio. Two months later, Aidonia had his first bonafide hit, the song “Lolly” which was done on Skatta’s Irish Dance riddim. In October 2005, news broke that “Lolly” was included on VP Records’ annual Strictly the Best (Volume 33) compilation.

More hits followed from 2005 into 2006, including “Chicken Head”, “Prayer”, “Inna Di Ghetto”, “Eagle”, “Ooku”, “Unknown Assailant” and “Kingfish Ah Come”. He also fulfilled one of his goals of working with Bounty Killer, when he recorded “Sen Fi Dem”.

More recently, he has recorded “Reload” on the Redbull & Guiness riddim, “Bukam” on the Billback riddim and “Wine” on the Tremor riddim.

Hardcore and innovative are words that aptly describes the persona and talent of the artiste known as Aidonia. When scanning through radio stations it is impossible not to hear his songs. The ladies adore him and men give high ratings to the lyrical flow of Aidonia aka lyrical king.