Observer senior writer—

The Assignment , Carlene Davis’ latest album, will be released on November 11 by VP Records. It comes three years after her previous set, Dripping Blood , came out on the same label.

Dripping Blood entered the Billboard Reggae Album Chart in July 2015, peaking at number two. The Assignment is Davis’ 26th album and her 11th gospel effort since becoming a committed Christian in 1996.

“With every album comes a different perspective, a different message that God has laid on my heart. This time the Lord wants to remind us that there is hope. And as you will recall, our last presentation of Fun In The Son (concert) the theme was ‘A voice of hope’,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “In that same vein He has told us that there is an assignment on each of our lives especially as Christians, and when God give us an assignment it is always greater than what man thinks of us.”

Three songs from The Assignment have already been released. Praising God, Jamaica Belongs to Jesus, and Pray For Me. The latter is a collaboration with Marion Hall.

Dripping Blood broke new ground for Davis. It was her first time on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart, a remarkable tidbit considering she had massive songs and well-received albums during her secular career.

“We are grateful for what Dripping Blood has achieved and it would be good for The Assignment to follow through with even greater recognition. But what matters most is how many lives the album will touch and transform because, at the end of the day, we have to be careful that God gets the glory,” she reasoned.

The Assignment is produced by Tommy Cowan, Davis’ husband, who guided her on most of her albums. Guitarist Dalton Browne, former Wailers keyboardist Tyrone Downie, Third World guitarist Steven “Cat” Coore, saxophonist Dean Fraser and bassist Lloyd Parks are some of the musicians who played on the album.

 

Born in Clarendon, Davis lived for 20 years in the United Kingdom and Canada before returning to Jamaica during the early 1980’s. Songs like Stealing Love on The Side, Like Old Friends Do, Going Down to Paradise and Dial my Number made her a successful pop artiste, but by the late 1990’s she chose a different path.

“It was in 1996 that, after being diagnosed with cancer, that I committed my life fully to serving God. I am confident that in spite of what people may say, and they are free to say what they want, I live by the Word that I am the head and not the tail, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rise up against me God has already condemned,” she said. “Yes, I am a better person because the words I bring are life over death, and I am able to be part of something bigger than me.”