Peter Ram
Peter “Ram” Wiggins is a household name in the Caribbean and internationally. His career started in the mid-eighties as a DJ, playing at street jams and parties with his cousin the “Chihuahua Business Man” (Lil Rick). Inspired by the Barbadian music industry he began penning lyrics. The ease of which led to the next logical step, taking the mic. From that first song, the Barbadian music industry took heed and witnessed the birth of a phenomenon.
Known as Mr. Freestyle in Barbados, Peter Ram is no stranger to the stage. In 2001, his tune “Rats” placed him in the finals for the Barbados 2001 Party Monarch competition. His quick wit and ease with lyrics helped him to write many a tune for several artists including hits such as “Top Class Bubbla”, “Get Ready to Wine”, “Do As Ya Want”, “Confidence” and “Fireworks” for Soca Queen Alison Hinds.
For Crop Over 2003, Peter Ram released the huge hit “The Pledge” or “Blue, Yellow and Black” as it is affectionately known, which won him the Best Nation Building song. The song was a tremendous success and lead to participation in two of the island’s most highly contested Crop Over competitions, Pic-O-De-Crop and Party Monarch Finals.
Ram has shared the stage with reggae stars like Beenie Man, Merciless, Shaggy, Bounty Killa, and Elephant Man.
The artiste took his career in a different direction in 2005. He added actors to his list of accolades in his first feature film “Tek Dem Out”. He has also been the face and voice behind Total Sport, a sports brand retail outlet in Barbados.
In July 2006, he released “Woman by My Side” which resulted in extensive travel throughout the Caribbean. This track was remixed for Trinidad Carnival 2007, featuring 2006 Power Soca Monarch King, Shurwayne Winchester of the band Traffik, who is also one of the top soca artistes in that country. The resounding success of this track has commanded much attention in the international market.
The music video was shot by Trinidadian Roland “Remy” Yearwood in Barbados. It was added to VH1 Soul’s Island Soul programming and to Music Choice TV, a video-on-demand channel. The video landed Peter Ram the number three position on MTVN TEMPO’s Cross Caribbean Countdown; a network dedicated to Caribbean music and culture.
Peter Ram was invited by TEMPO to render a special guest appearance of “Woman by My Side” with Shurwayne Winchester at the “Rock the Tempo” show at the Lionel Roberts Stadium in St. Thomas, British Virgin Islands. Singing to a capacity crowd of over 10,000 he appeared alongside other headline acts such as international recording artists Shaggy, Maxi Priest, and reality show “The Voice” winner Tessanne Chin.
Peter Ram released three new tracks for Crop Over 2007; “Pumpin” – which was produced by Darron Grant of Undaground Studios, “Smoke Signal” produced by the Red Boyz, and “Snakes. “Crop Over 2007 was another great year for this artist, who continued to show consistency by earning a position in the Party Monarch Finals and performed at all the major Crop Over events.
He went on to rank highly in the international soca arena, when the “Woman by My Side” remix was judged “Best Soca Collaboration” at the prestigious 5th Annual International Soca Awards, in Queens, New York.
A remix of “Pumpin” featuring Jamaican reggae star Aidonia followed. This whets his appetite, enticing him to return to Barbados’ 2008 Crop Over season with the mega-hit “Tight”, “Carnival Praise” and “African Song”. These were well received and resulted in him being one of the most popular artists for the season. This popularity crossed borders and Peter went on to take Trinidad by storm for their 2009 Carnival season.
After a couple of years honing his craft, the artiste made a resurgence with one of his strongest tracks to date “All Ah We”. The track which was penned by Trinidadian Jason “Shaft” Bishop, who has crafted many hit songs for regional artists, has secured the artiste three wins throughout the 2015 Crop Over season.
He emerged triumphant in the Party Monarch Competition earning his first major title. The popularity of the song also secured him Road March King titles and Stag Jam Tune Champion after the Kadooment and Foreday morning festivities in his native land. Among his cache of accolades is becoming an ambassador for telecommunications company FLOW, and energy drink TURBO.
2016 was another successful year for the singer. He was able to win third place in the Party Monarch clash with “Tribe” and the Sweet Soca competition with the Jovan James penned hit “Good Morning.”
2017 saw the release of two tracks, ‘The Tribe’ and ‘Upside Down’, which kept the versatile artiste flying the Bajan flag high, throughout the West Indian Diaspora worldwide.
‘Push Back’ was the featured song in 2018 recorded on the Mad Alien Riddim, produced by King Bubba and Dwaingerous. Also, in 2018, Peter Ram was made an ambassador and counselor for the Ministry of Education’s Anti Violence Campaign, in which he penned the Anti-Violence jingle. Along with fellow artists, Mole, Faith Callender, and Philip, they visited each of the secondary schools to perform the jingle, spread the word of peace, and engage the students to ensure that preventative measures are taken to end the violence within the school system.
The pace of his touring schedule has kept the artiste at the forefront of his fans’ minds as they continue to sing in unison with him at various venues regionally and internationally. Peter Ram’s style will ensure that he maintains his standing as one of the Caribbean’s most popular artists.
