/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Jamaican Dancehall Singer Finally Gets U.S. Breakthrough

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Mar 17 2003 (IPS) - With a hot song riding the Billboard charts and a new album out, dancehall singer Wayne Wonder is enjoying the best time of his career. One of the most durable performers the genre has produced, Wonder has made the leap from the Jamaican charts to mainstream U.S. success with the hit single, "No Letting Go".

The song, one of several recorded on Jamaican producer Stephen Marsden’s Diwali dance beat, is currently number 19 on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart.

"I’m getting a lot of recognition now but I have to keep composed," Wonder, whose style incorporates hip hop, rap and R&B, told the ‘Jamaica Observer’ newspaper earlier this year. "The work has just begun."

To capitalize on the breakthrough of "No Letting Go", VP Records, the all-reggae label based in Queens, New York, released Wonder’s seventh album, ‘No Holding Back’, in the first week of March. Already, the set has been getting favourable reviews in major publications, including ‘USA Today’.

Wonder, born Vonwayne Charles in Portland parish in eastern Jamaica, has wandered far to find his path to success. He has been making music for over a decade, but urban disc jockeys in New York City never found his hardcore dancehall sound palatable.

Wonder had some success in the late 1990s when his song, "Saddest Day" became a minor hit on radio and in clubs throughout the Big Apple. Two years ago, he re-recorded the song with rapper Foxy Brown for her ‘Broken Silence’ album.

"Saddest Day", which is included on ‘No Holding Back’, was a turning point in Wonder’s career. Prior to that, most of his hits were covers of popular numbers by U.S. singers, such as En Vogue ("Hold On"), PM Dawn ("Die Without You") and Tracy Chapman ("Fast Car"). In a 1998 interview, Wonder said it was important to come out from under the covers if he was to break new ground.

"I found that when I went to America, people would say ‘oh, that’s Tevin’s (Campbell) song or R Kelly’s song’," said Wonder. "Then I did this PM Dawn song and they said they loved what I did with the song and sent for a copy. That meant they were listening, so I decided to do my own thing."

That was 1994, when he was a key member of producer Donovan Germain’s dominant Penthouse Records. Wonder moved there in 1989 after the death of his collaborator, legendary engineer Osbourne "King Tubby" Ruddock.

At Penthouse he established himself with a string of hit songs, and along with close friends deejay Buju Banton and engineer-producer Dave Kelly, Wonder helped make Penthouse a hit factory.

Wonder and Kelly left Penthouse in the mid 1990s when Kelly started his Mad House label, producing songs for the dancehall elite and internationally-rated acts like Shaggy and singer Maxi Priest. Wonder continued his hit drive with the local chart-toppers "Turn Away" and "Joy Ride", but still the North American breakthrough proved elusive.

That changed last year when the Diwali and "No Letting Go" cracked Billboard’s urban charts and the video became a regular on Black Entertainment Television (BET) and set the pace for the release of ‘No Holding Back’.

Like Wonder’s previous albums, ‘No Holding Back’ is being promoted by VP Records. But a major difference this time is that it will be marketed and distributed through a new deal VP has with the giant Atlantic Records.

Wonder toured parts of the United States east coast in late 2002 to promote "No Letting Go". With ‘No Holding Back’ just out, he has stepped up the promotional campaign once more, appearing on BET’s influential 106 And Park show.