CHAKA Demus, one-half of the successful Jamaican recording duo Chaka Demus & Pliers, has just completed a solo album he thinks will make him a household name again.

“I just finished working on it. We haven’t even named it yet but I think it is going to be great,” Chaka Demus told the Jamaica Observer recently.

MURDER THEY WROTE… Dancehall duo Chaka Demus and Pliers are still actively touring

Chaka Demus, whose real name is John Taylor, said he recorded the album at his home studio in Edgewater, St. Catherine where his Bright Star Productions company is based. He said his latest effort includes a duet with his 30-year-old son, Marvellous, a singjay, as well as Pliers and Freddie McGregor.

Despite not having a recent hit song on the charts, Chaka Demus & Pliers have been touring Africa and Europe. Their last stint was in Nigeria in December. They are also scheduled for this weekend’s Veterans In Action concert at the Police Officers’ Club in St Andrew. Also appearing on that show will be Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles, Admiral Tibet, and the Mighty Diamonds.

Chaka Demus said veteran acts are being ignored by the radio stations and the disc jockeys.

“I am pleading with the radio stations just give our music a chance. We keep sending the records to them but they just not being played,” he told the Observer.

Since joining forces in 1991, Chaka Demus and Pliers, whose given name is Everton Bonner, enjoyed an internationally successful partnership between 1993 and 1997.

They were the first Jamaican act to have three consecutive Top 5 hits on the UK Singles Chart, a record only surpassed by Shaggy who scored four consecutive Top 5 hits in 2001.

Their first UK chart hit, Tease Me, stayed in the Top 5 of the Singles Chart for three months in 1993, reaching number three in July. After releasing a cover of the Isley Brothers’ Twist and Shout, the song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, in early 1994. The duo’s other Top 20 hits were, She Don’t Let Nobody which went to number 4, I Wanna Be Your Man (19), and Gal Wine (20).

On November 18, 2007, Chaka Demus & Pliers performed their biggest hit, Murder She Wrote, with Alicia Keys at the 2007 American Music Awards.