GLEN WASHINGTON KEEPS CURRENT WITH THE RELEASE OF HIS LATEST SINGLE “FINALLY!”

BY HOWARD CAMPBELL— Observer senior writer—

IT’S been 25 years since Glen Washington evolved from journeyman musician/singer to the big time with Brother to Brother , an album he recorded for producer Clement “Coxson” Dodd. In a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer , the veteran artiste said he’s never tired of recording or performing live.

Washington is promoting Finally, his latest song, which is produced by Kelly Tucker. Since breaking through with Brother to Brother, he has never pressured himself to hit the charts.

“It is in myself to do whatever I do to the best of my ability. I always try to make things proper that people can listen to for years to come and that’s how hit songs come about,” he said.

Released in September, Finally is among a flurry of singles the Clarendon-born vocalist has recorded this year. It has the live sound that he favors, pointing to his time as a drummer early in his career.

Washington had been recording since the late 1970s when he met Dodd at Studio One’s New York offices in the mid-1990s. Studio One achieved legendary status during the rock steady era of the 1960s and enjoyed a revival a decade later thanks to artistes such as Johnny Osbourne, Sugar Minott, and Freddie McGregor.

At the time he met Washington, Dodd’s catalogue was in the midst of renewed interest due to a series of well-received reissue albums by Heartbeat Records, an independent company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The producer was impressed by Washington’s vocals and suggested they record an album.

The result was Brother to Brother, which yielded hits like Prisoner of Love and Love Knows No Shame. Recorded on classic Studio One beats, they helped make the album one of 1996’s surprise music packages.

Based in Florida, Washington retains the passion he had for music in the early 1970s as a drummer with The Mighty Titans band at Bohemia Club in Kingston.

“After all these years I’m still into the music. I passed up being a police officer to become a musician, and being a musician is what I’m gonna do until the day I pass on,” he said.