Gabriel McNeil on Clubhouse

Bio

Gabriel McNeil, born on the 28th of November 1980, got the name Viper G from friends who thought he was quick and dangerous as a striker in football.

Raised in a big family in the North West of London, he attended Northview Primary School and Claremont high school in Kingsbury. Music always played a big part in his upbringing, with his father being a big-time Reggae producer.

Viper was always singing as a child, alongside football, these were the two things he really enjoyed. Whilst still in school he started up a sound with his brother Scales called Star Dust- this venture nurtured Vipers stance within a sound. At around 15 Viper was going to St Andrew’s youth club in St Andrews Rd, Willesden, which was coincidently being run by Gussy’s dad, through this youth club he started joining Gussy and his two cousins as they were playing out, and the creation of Silver Star was being conceived. Silver Star started their weekly radio slot career with shows on Beat FM & Street FM before joining Unique 101.2 FM in 2001, where they had amongst the most listened to shows on the station. They also joined Daddy Ernie on Choice 96.9 & 107.1 FM every Wednesday to update the listeners on the Dancehall scene by supplying a live mix session of all things current.

Since September 2003 Silver Star after leaving CHOICE FM has its weekly show, Silver Star Presents…. on BBC’s 1Xtra on Sundays, midnight till 2 am. This show is aired worldwide and has already been extremely successful for the trio. They present the ‘International Dancehall’ slot – this features international sound systems such as Stone Love, Mighty Crown, Bass Odyssey, Cash Money, Black Chiney, and Love Injection… Amongst many more. Silver Star had now become an ‘international sound system’ themselves with dates abroad including Sweden, Switzerland and Estonia, Germany, Belgium, Amsterdam, Austria, Italy, Kenya, Jamaica, USA, Norway, Australia, Cyprus, Greece, Antigua, The List Goes On… They have also recently had their show chosen to feature on BBC Radio 1 through radio 1 presents 1xtra, taking them to a potential audience of hundreds of thousands!

Viper Left Silver Star Sound in February 2007 His job as an I.T. manager and studying Forensic Science at TVU University while football is still his main hobby (he came through the ranks of Sudbury Court, Brent FC (Playing against John Terry, Peter Crouch)

Nightly Link-Up, Wednesdays from 8pm - 10pm GMT on Empireradio.org

@iamdjviperg