Dennis Brown would have celebrated his 68th birthday on February 1.
Songwriter and producer Mikey Bennett remembers the primary time that he collaborated with Dennis Brown, affectionately dubbed the Crown Prince of Reggae.
Brown, who died in July 1999, was born on February 1, 1957. He would’ve celebrated his 68th birthday at the moment.
“For someone who had simply entered the sport as a songwriter, writing for Dennis Brown was just like the crown jewel. It was the joy that you simply solely dreamt of. Whenever you sang a demo and also you heard Dennis sing the identical factor that you simply had sung and also you listened to the demo, I realised the diploma to which it had improved. And to be in a studio and listening to Dennis Brown sing one thing that you simply had written was unbelievable to me,” Bennett recalled in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday.
No Extra Partitions is the identify of the tune that Bennett wrote for Brown.
“I keep in mind the primary expertise I had writing a tune… we had a bit bother getting him to do it. There was some extent within the session that I bought a bit nervous attempting to push too arduous, and there was a protracted pause. Gussie Clarke, who was the producer, nudged me and mentioned, ‘No man, let him do it the way in which him need it.’ He [Brown] did it, and when he got here again ‘spherical to hearken to it, him say, ‘Yute, this unhealthy. We now have a variety of work to do. My ear simply full up,’ ” mentioned Bennett.
After that first collaboration, Bennett produced a number of different songs for Brown and two full-length studio albums.
“Writing for Dennis Brown was like a dream come true. He introduced a type of charisma to every tune. Lengthy reside the recollections of Dennis Brown,” Bennett said.
He lists songs together with My Coronary heart Cries for You, Revolution, Maybe, If I Observe My Coronary heart, Little Inexperienced Apples, If You Need Me, Love Has Discovered its Manner, and Wichita Lineman amongst his favorite recorded by Brown.
Finest identified for the hits No Man is an Island, Silhouettes, How May I Depart, Cash in My Pocket (#14 on the UK Singles chart), Westbound Prepare, and Love Has Discovered its Manner (#47 within the UK and #41 on Billboard R&B Songs chart in 1981), Dennis Brown started his profession within the late Sixties.
On August 6, 2011 Brown was posthumously conferred with the Order of Distinction within the rank of Commander for his contribution to the Jamaican music trade.
In 2023, revered American commerce and music publication Rolling Stone ranked Brown at #67 on its listing of the 200 Best Singers of All Time.
