IN 1989 singer Tinga Stewart collaborated with dancehall artiste Ninjaman to top local charts with Cover Me. The song was a cover of a song originally done by American soul singer Percy Sledge.

The following year, the Stewart-Ninjaman collab scored again with Take Time to Know Her, another Sledge hit.

Sledge died at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Tuesday after a year-long struggle with cancer. He was 74.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer yesterday, Stewart believes the success of both singles was a result of timing and Sledge’s popularity among Jamaicans.

“The rhythm was called Fever and it was just simply intoxicating. Also, Mr Percy Sledge’s music is very influential so I got the attention of both his fans and mine when we recorded the cover versions,” he said.

In 2002, Stewart performed with the soul legend in New York. He described the experience as memorable.

“To know that I was performing with the original singer of the songs was a wonderful experience. We performed it on a reggae rhythm. That was the only time I got a chance to share a stage with him, but we did meet up again in Jamaica at shows that he was booked for,” Stewart said.

Known for other hits including When a Man Loves a Woman, It Tears Me Up and Out Of Left Field, Sledge was a regular in Jamaica. He last performed in the country in March 2014 at Jamaica College on the R&B-Reggae Concert.

Stewart, whose given name is Neville Stewart, began his career in the late- 1960s when Sledge was hot. His first single was 1969’s She’s Gone, with Ernest Wilson of The Clarendonians.

He worked with producer Derrick Harriott in the early 1970s, with releases such as Hear That Train. In 1973, Stewart earned his first solo hit with Funny Feeling. He won the Festival Song Contest three times, twice as a singer and once as a songwriter.

Stewart is currently working on an EP called We Need Love From the Children which will be released by VPAL.