[1] During the 1980s he worked as a deejay on sound systems such as Conquering Lion, Soul Remembrance, Pepper's Disco, Stereophonic, and Destiny Outernational (where he first met Tony Rebel).

In 1988, he joined Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion label, releasing "No Disrespect", and working regularly with Tony Rebel, Smith now being billed simply as 'Bimbo'.

The Garnett Silk Meets the Conquering Lion: A Dub Plate Selection album dates from about this time and features a clutch of exclusive recordings the DJ cut for the sound system from the mid-1980s through the end of the decade.

The success of this session led him to continue as a singer, going on to work with producers King Tubby, Prince Jammy, and Donovan Germain, before signing a two-year contract with Steely & Clevie in 1990, recording an album's worth of songs for them.

[1][2] Only one of the tracks recorded during this period, "We Can Be Together," a duet with Chevelle Franklin, was actually released at the time, and discouraged by this, he returned to Manchester and threw himself into songwriting, often in partnership with an old friend, Anthony "Fire" Rochester.

Silk would record a plethora of songs at the producer's Ocho Rios studio, amongst them were the hits "Mama," "Seven Spanish Angels," and a cover of the Johnny Nash classic "I Can See Clearly Now".

Roof International would posthumously bundle up these early singles and other material recorded at this time for the Nothing Can Divide Us album, which the VP label picked up for the US.

[3] Having signed an international distribution deal with Atlantic Records, Silk now entered Tuff Gong studios with producer Errol Brown and the cream of Jamaica's session men (including Aston Barrett, Sly & Robbie, Tyrone Downie, Earl "Chinna" Smith, and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), to begin work on his second album.

In 2000, Atlantic finally released The Definitive Collection, a two-CD set showcasing the ten tracks the singer had recorded during sessions for his unfinished second album.