By Zenitha Prince
Washington Bureau Chief
(November 19, 2008) - There are some names that are synonymous with reggae music—Bob Marley, Dennis Brown and Peter Tosh. But when it comes to lover’s rock—the kind of reggae music that speaks to love, lust and romance—Beres Hammond stands alone.
For almost four decades, Hammond, 54, has been delivering hit after hit, making him Jamaica’s greatest practicing singer/songwriter.
“It’s like waking up and knowing you’re going to have your favorite meal and eating [that] something you like all the time,” Hammond told the AFRO of his dedication to his career. “The love and the passion I had when I came into the business, I still have.”
He added, “Everything sort of fell fresh every time”—as it does on his latest release, A Moment in Time.
Estimated to be his 25th album, A Moment in Time is like a sip of fine wine that transports the palate from the buoyant notes of gospel and sultry notes of R&B to the stirring tones of jazz and roots reggae.
Almost an entirely self-produced effort recorded at his Harmony House studio in Kingston, the album’s 14 tracks offer an organic sound that is the product of a process Hammond calls “vibing.”
“I don’t sit down and say, ‘this album will be based on this concept’,” he told the AFRO. “I just go into the studio and I sing whatever comes to mind.”
Case in point: the title track’s inference that life can offer instantaneous changes (“It takes one moment in time to change your life forever”) was inspired by the song’s jazzy rhythm created by the artist’s daughter Nastassja.
“When she played the rhythm for me, this is the song that I heard in my head,” explained Hammond. “It’s like that’s what that rhythm was telling me.”
Other tracks on the CD include “Talking Africa,” a percussion driven homage to the motherland, the devotional “I’ll Live Again” and several lovers’ rock tunes, which all add to Hammond’s experiment in the fusion of sound.
“I sing what feels good, so any which form the music comes in, a hard-core reggae vibe or a little more subtle, you find a rhythm that complements what you are saying. When I started out, I never saw R&B, reggae [or] ballads. No, I just knew I had a voice and I wanted to make music that fits the voice.”
Hammond’s voice, an iconic blend of honey and smoke, has been a clarion call for reggae lovers around the world for 35 years.
The ninth of 10 children born in Jamaica’s St. Mary parish on Aug. 28, 1955, Hammond, as a precocious child, made regular trips to Kingston to mingle with the singers who frequented the downtown record shops.
After graduating from high school, he did the talent show circuit then joined the fusion band Zap Pow as lead singer in 1975. He remained with them for four years, recording the albums Zap Pow (Mango, 1978), and Reggae Rules (Rhino Records, 1980) while simultaneously pursuing solo projects. But Hammond quickly realized he “couldn’t serve two masters” and decided to concentrate on his individual efforts.
His 1976 solo album, Soul Reggae (Aquarius Records), produced by his friend Willie Lindo, sold more than 2,000 copies in Jamaica during the first week of its release. His subsequent single “One Step Ahead,” still a fan favorite, held the No.1 spot on the Jamaican charts for three-and-a-half months. Despite the popularity of his music, he failed to reap any financial rewards. Frustrated, he dropped out of the music business, then regrouped and formed his own record label/production company, Harmony House, in the early ‘80s.
Hammond’s Harmony House debut single “Groovy Little Thing” marked the first time his music paid off. A succession of hit singles followed including 1987’s “What One Dance Can Do,” which entered the national charts in England and elicited a spate of answer records. Further acclaim arrived in 1990 when Hammond joined forces with his good friend Donovan Germain whose Penthouse Records dominated the Jamaican charts in the early ‘90s with hits by Buju Banton, Wayne Wonder and others. Donovan asked Hammond to record vocals over a rhythm track he had. He barely remembered recording “Tempted to Touch” but the song shot to the top of reggae charts around the world, as did the ensuing hits “Is This A Sign,” “Respect To You Baby” and “Feeling Lonely,” all featured on his Penthouse album A Love Affair.
He signed to Elektra Records for whom he released the outstanding CD In Control in 1994. The CD’s spectacular R&B flavored single “No Disturb Sign,” still one of Hammond’s most popular songs, did not yield the desired international breakthrough although he would have easily captured the same fan base as Teddy Pendergrass or any other sophisticated soulful crooner, had In Control been given proper support by Elektra’s publicity/marketing machinery.
“I never liked how I was treated; it was my first album on a major label, I think they should have paid more attention to it,” Hammond said. “But still, there are many artists who have been on the Billboard charts and don’t have the kind of fan base I have now so I am alright.”
Hammond’s popularity with fans, who range from 9 to 90 years old, is a product, not only of the artist’s riveting live performances but also his true-to-life depictions of love and relationships. From the sly maneuvering of the philandering male on “Double Trouble” to the triumph of an overlooked female on “Show It Off” to the defiant pride of an inevitable relationship in “They Gonna Talk” from his 2001 Grammy nominated album Music Is Life, Hammond speaks to the core of people’s experiences. That’s probably why it is not uncommon to see thousands of fans singing along word-for-word at his concerts.
Said Hammond of such devotion, “There are hardly words to express how I feel when I see people singing along with me [at my concerts]. It’s like magic; like you’re in Disneyland. You think, ‘I’ve done what I needed to do.’”