Deejay/producer Suga Roy salutes some of his musical heroes on Honoring The Kings of Reggae, a multi-song album scheduled for release in November.

The lanky artiste teams with longtime collaborator, singer Conrad Crystal and singer Zareb on most of the 19 songs, which include renditions of Jacob Miller’s Mixed-Up Moods (done as Mix Up Attitude), Bob Marley’s So Much Trouble (covered asTrouble) and Desmond Dekker’s Shanty Town.

Zareb, a journeyman artiste from Clarendon, leads on most of the songs. His vocals are complemented by harmonies from Crystal, best known for the 1985 hit song, True Love Will Never Die; and toasting by Suga Roy.

Though the set features more established acts like Sizzla, Jahmali and Terry Ganzie, Suga Roy said Zareb was perfect for the project which he started production on in the summer of 2015.

“A jus’ Jah Works, him have a soun’ wha’ fit most of the tracks an’ artistes,” he told Splash.

Shanty Town, covered by Busy Signal, was a strong hit for Suga Roy’s Fireball Records last year. The ‘riddim’ of the same name also had popular songs by Zareb, Suga Roy and Dasia.

Honoring The Kings of Reggae has covers of Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now (done by Terry Linen) and Culture’s Jah Jah See Them (by Gyptian).

Most of the songs were recorded with the House Of Riddim Band from Austria and Suga Roy’s Fireball Crew Band. Saxophonist Dean Fraser, trombonist Nambo Robinson, keyboardist Robbie Lyn and drummer Kirk Bennett also played on the album.

Suga Roy (given name Leroy Moore) is from Racecourse, Clarendon. He has been recording since 1992.

— Howard Campbell