In many ways, singer Cocoa Tea is still a purist. That’s not surprising, given that he is a product of the 1980s when reggae music was still dominant over its rebellious offspring dancehall.

Back then, his signature vocals were heard belting out impressive numbers, among them Who’s The Champion, Rocking Dolly (his first big hit with producer Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes), Lost My Sonia, Tune In, Settle Down, Don’t Be Shy, Rikers Island and Kingston Hot.

The songs established him as one of the better reggae artistes out of Jamaica and won him thousands of fans worldwide.

Among those fans, the ladies hold a special place in the singer’s heart. And, in appreciation of their unwavering support Cocoa Tea (real name Calvin George Scott) has released his latest single, titled A Love Like Yours And Mine.

“I am wooing the ladies all over again,” the foundation reggae singer said, explaining that women will now see him in a different light.

“It’s a smoother Cocoa Tea. I want them to fall in love with me again,” he said as he shared that he is already receiving a lot of positive feedback on the single.

“I already have a lot of female fans, but I have to remind them that I am still doing new things,” the singer from Clarendon quipped.

His concentration on pleasing his female fans has not, however, distracted him from another of his passions — the business of reggae music.

“I’ve read where some say that reggae music is a US$60-billion industry, yet in Jamaica we are acting like it’s a $6,000 industry,” he said, adding that he is tired of people asking him what is happening to reggae music.

It is this disgruntlement that has seen him recording another single, A Whey Di Reggae Deh — the title track from his upcoming album.

“I’ve been travelling all over the place — London, France, US — and people keep asking what has become of reggae,” he told the Observer. “The reality is that some of these dancehall tunes can’t withstand the test of time.”

According to Cocoa Tea, the reality that more needs to be done to groom the younger generation was brought home to him at the annual Ragamuffin Festival in New Zealand last year.

“The truth start to hit me when I saw Horace Andy, Israel Vibration with the youngest artiste on Raggamuffin Festival being Tarrus Riley. Where is the music going? If we don’t have the younger generation to come and fill the void left by Gregory [Isaacs], Dennis Brown, Alton [Ellis], etc what will happen to it?” asked Cocoa Tea.

“We need the void to be filled, and the younger generation must do it. If they can’t earn a place on the big reggae festivals, what is that message really saying? We need to get them involved that they can take over,” he stressed.

The solution, he said, is for foundation artistes to start mentoring the younger ones, and for producers to “get back to basics” where the music is concerned.

While the singer hailed the use of technology as good for the music, he noted that it can also stifle creativity and talent.

To make his point he pointed to Pro Tools, which is described as the most widely used high-performance audio creation/production system that facilitates the composing, recording, editing, and mixing of music and sound for picture.

“Back in the day, we used to sing the chorus right through the song during recording,” said Cocoa Tea. That helped artistes’ voice [to] develop. Now the chorus is spliced in with this software.”

He said that at his Roaring Lion recording studio he uses analog technology because “I want them to learn the thing like I did. When some established artistes come to my studio they can’t record to analog, they just didn’t learn it the right way… we need to show them where they are going wrong. Engineers are lost without Pro Tools,” the singer said.

Born in Rocky Point, Clarendon, Cocoa Tea said he was exposed to music by singing on church and school choirs.

Having recorded his first single Searching In The Hills at age 14 and not achieving any success with it, Coco Tea became a racehorse jockey, but left that to become a fisherman which gave him the time to establish his music career. His training grounds were the dancehalls, where he would test his lyrics on various sound systems that came to play in his area.

His success in the dancehalls strengthened his purpose and encouraged him to go further, so he began writing songs and training his voice, he said. But it was the birth of his first child, Rashane, that pushed him into music full-time as he realised that he needed a steady income.

Two months after an impressive performance at a dancehall in December 1983, Cocoa Tea journeyed to Kingston where he met ‘Junjo’. The two formed a successful union.

The rest, as they say, is history.

A Whey Di Reggae Deh album will feature tracks such as Beat The Drum, Press Riddim, Sufferation and White Squall and will be released in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

According to the singer, he wants to “capitalise on the momentum there” as he is booked to perform at the Games, as well as for the Queen, a gig that will get him even more worldwide attention.

“What better atmosphere than that to release my album?” he asked.

Cocoa Tea is currently preparing for his summer tour, which is scheduled to open on June 26 in Brooklyn, New York and will include Boston, Portland, Seattle and other stops in the USA.