TO SATISFY HIS GROWING FAN BASE…GOSPEL ARTIST VESSEL, HAS RELEASED TWO SONGS “TRULY BLESSED’ AND “DOING IT BIG!”

Avlon “Vessel” Coleman

A committed Christian, Avlon “Vessel” Coleman makes no secret of his admiration for dancehall stars like Beenie Man and Buju Banton, as well as rappers Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre. Whenever he writes songs, he loves to record them to hard-driving beats.

That is the case with Truly Bless and Doing It Big, his latest songs which are produced by Craig McDonald. Gospel music, Vessel noted, has no set audience.

“I don’t limit myself to a particular demographic, whatever the producer gives me in terms of a beat, if I like it and it’s speaking to me I put something on it. I do me and make God do the rest,” said the South Florida-based artist.

McDonald has produced the lion’s share of Vessel’s music, including two albums. Those are Christwalker which was released in 2020, and His Steps, which came out last summer.

Vessel is from Clarendon parish in rural Jamaica. That region has an impressive musical lineage, having produced trailblazers such as singers Millie Small and Toots Hibbert and dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

He migrated with his family in the mid-1990s when many gospel acts in Jamaica including The Grace Thrillers and Carlene Davis found new fans by recording to secular rhythms. For Vessel, the beat is not what counts.

“I do gospel songs, I wouldn’t call them spiritual. The message in my music is to show forth Christ,” he said.