By Leighton Levy–
More than four decades after he first burst on the scene, roots-reggae icon Errol Osbourne is relaunching his career once more with not one, but two albums in 2013.
Osbourne ‘s song, Mr Marshall, was recently sampled by music project Major Lazer on the tune Jah No Partial and gives Osbourne a vehicle on which to ride from the past into the present and towards the future.
Osbourne first came to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead vocalist of The Wildcats, but later went on to record his first single All I Have Is Love. He released his first album, Come Back Darling, in 1969 for producer Winston Riley, but migrated to Canada shortly thereafter. He returned to Jamaica a decade later and recorded extensively for iconic producer Clement ‘Sir Coxson’ Dodd through who he released the album Truths and Rights.
By 1980 he had released the single Folly Ranking for Prince Jammy. An album of the same name soon followed. Over the next few years, Osbourne released a slew of hit songs including Yo Yo, Lend Me YourChopper, Water Pumping, Check for You, Buddy Bye, Rude Boy Skank and A We Run Things.
Osbourne migrated to the United States (US) in the late 1990s and went relatively silent as his immigration status was being regularised. He spent the next 14 years writing and performing exclusively in the US, but was unable to venture beyond its borders. Last year with his status regularised, Osbourne came home for Rebel Salute 2012.
“That was my launching pad for the next coming of Johnny Osbourne,” he said.
“That was a very important venture for me and, after Rebel Salute, 2012 was a very good year for me.”
From Rebel Salute, Osbourne took on Europe where he performed at reggae festivals including one in the United Kingdom as Jamaica’s athletes wowed the world at the Olympic Games in London. The European venture, he said, was revealing in many ways.
“The first one I did was the Garance Reggae Festival in France. The response was overwhelming, it was very surprising,” Osbourne recalled.
“I never knew that these people were waiting for me and I didn’t know that so many people were into my music, so I was honoured by the way the people accepted me. It’s like they were waiting for me for all these years.”
Big push
It was more of the same at the Rototom Reggae Festival in Germany, Spain, Reggae Jam in Belgium, the Sardinia Music Festival and in London, August 6, where he was included in a line-up along with Marcia Griffith, Freddie McGregor and Maxi Priest. Johnny Osbourne was now relevant once more, but when Major Lazer sampled Mr Marshal, it thrust him into the spotlight.
“It’s on Major Lazer new album and that is what’s buzzing right now for Johnny Osbourne,” the singer said.
“This Major Lazer thing is stepping up in the Billboard charts so it’s something big.”
“The foundation of Major Lazer is roots-rock reggae,” Osbourne continued. “And regardless of whatever else they play, they don’t play without playing roots-rock reggae. Red Bull had a sound clash in November in Wembley Arena and Major Lazer invited me and Usher to sing and that was awesome. So when I come and I sing a capella, Jah No Partial, after that a Buddy Bye mi gi dem, so their thing never shadows my thing.”
2013, he said, is the year when fans will be hearing new music. He has a collection of new material compiled over the years that he intends to release.
“People have been asking me. they’re saying they need new music. I have recorded new music but you don’t hear them yet. In New York I have this friend – Lion Dub – who is producing a ‘jungle’ album (fusion of other genres with reggae music). The people have some Johnny Osbourne classics what them love and they are some jungle people so what we doing is mixing in some reggae in the jungle and still use my songs,” he said.
“I am not leaving my thing to do their thing. I am from the old school but I am not stuck there. So me tek the old school, mix it with the new school and mek it one big school, and that is mi rule.”
While not offering a timeline for the release of this album, Osbourne said,because of demand, his brand new roots-rock reggae album has to be ready for this coming summer.
“I never stopped writing. Mi have plenty material. Maybe everybody a say the same thing but me always have to find a different way to say it different from a next guy,” he said.
He plans to work with a number of producers on this album including Sly and Robbie, Dean Frazer, and Seanizzle.
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