Born on November 30, 1964 in Kingston, Jamaica and christened Kevin Anthony Jackson, Sanchez grew up with his Mother, Father, two brothers and two sisters, in the Stony Hill and Waterford Communities under strong Christian principles. He says, “I had to go to church every Sunday and often during the week as well. I was a member of the Rehoboth Apostolic Church junior choir and later the senior choir where I was the lead singer. I just love singing and going to church. However, when I started to attend St. Andrew Technical High School, I started hanging out with a new set of friends, things began to change and we would go to parties where sound systems like Rambo, Small Ax and Crystal would play. I really began to like the music and went through a period of conflict which later resulted in me drifting from the church.”
The former choir leader became a selector for the Rambo Sound system; a system on which many of his close DJ colleagues such as Flourigan, Lizard and Red Dragon also worked out. (By this time, he had been renamed Sanchez by his friends. and soccer team mates because of a highly skilled pass he made that was reminiscent of the great Brazilian soccer star Hugo Sanchez). As he gradually moved on to singing at these parties/sessions, the response he received was encouraging.
Sanchez soon began voicing for some of the top record producers in the business: Red Man, Winston Riley and Fattis Burrell. In 1987, Sanchez’s first single “Lady In Red” was released; soaring to the # 19 slot on JBC Radio record chart and that was very encouraging for young Sanchez. “It was a great feeling to hear my song playing on the radio.”
His first hit, the Winston Riley produced, ‘Loneliness,’ recorded in 1988, is still one of his biggest hits. In that same year, he was voted Singer of the Year, Best Up and Coming and Best New Artist by Rockers and Bins awards respectively. ‘Loneliness’ was also voted Song of the Year, and this led him to his first appearance at Reggae Sunsplash. Since Loneliness, Sanchez has scored with big hits such as, “Wild Sanchez”, “Love Mi Lover Bad”(a combination with DJ Florigan), “Fall In Love,” “If I Ever Fall In Love Again,” “Pretty Girl,” “One In A Million,” “Hello,” ‘Amazing Grace,’ and “Frenzy.” Frenzy won for Sanchez the 2002 songwriter of the year award from The Martin International Awards.
In his earlier days, Sanchez was labeled as the singer who does too many covers; yet by the same token, he was simultaneously acknowledged as a special singer who received much international fame and recognition from doing these same covers. Sanchez explains, “Most times Jamaican producers are more willing to record songs that people are familiar with. I was able to break that cycle when I began recording original songs. My fans stimulated me to write because the critics used to question my writing ability, so over the years I have been writing a lot. The first original hit I wrote was ‘Brown Eyes,’ for the Shocking Vibes label, it went to # 1 on the Jamaican charts and did very well overseas. Some of the other hits I wrote are ‘I Cant Wait,’ ‘Never Dis The Man,’ ‘Praise Him” ‘Leave Out A Babylon,’ and of course ‘Frenzy’.