FROM performing on sound systems, to touring and recording for different producers, singer Zareb has done it and more in a 25-year career.

He had settled into the role of roots journeyman until recently when Shanty Town, his song with singer Conrad Crystal and deejays Suga Roy and Busy Signal, took off.

Their take on Desmond Dekker and The Aces’ 1967 hit is the break Clarendon-born Zareb has longed for.

“It gi mi a profile. It gi mi a bright look going into December,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Shanty Town is produced by Suga Roy for his Fireball Records. It is the latest in a series of ‘combinations’ Zareb has done throughout his career.

Over the years, he has done songs with Anthony B, Fantan Mojah, Norris Man, and Capleton. This year, he featured on the album, Dubateers Meets Zareb, an album with the popular British dub/sound system team.

Though he was born in Clarendon, Zareb (Rainford McCurdy) grew up in the Whitehall Avenue area of Kingston. He was exposed to that community’s vibrant dancehall scene during the late 1980s, rubbing shoulders with hometown artistes like Red Dragon and Flourgon.

In 1992, he began working on the Stereo One sound system in Spanish Town.

After recording songs for producers Bobby Digital and Curtis Cole, Zareb started touring 10 years ago as opening act for Fantan Mojah in Europe. He has also done songs for independent record companies on that continent, such as Pow Wow out of Germany.

— Howard Campbell