MAXI Priest may be hoping that the third time’s the charm when he competes for the Grammy’s Best Reggae Album category on Sunday.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the nomination, and, of course, appreciative. If Toots wins, all of us wins; if I win, all of us win ’cause ah all ah wi Grammy. The road is rough, we all have to realise and recognise that we have a long way to go to continue the tradition of camaraderie that the old folks had in the previous generations,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Maxi Priest earned his latest Grammy nod with It All Comes Back to Love.

This is Maxi Priest’s first solo album of new material since 2014’s Easy to Love. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in October 2019. It features collaborations with Shaggy, Bounty Killer and Che Sav, Noah Powa, Inner Circle, and rhythm and blues singers Estelle and Anthony Hamilton.

The 14-track album was released via S- Curve/BMG. He teamed up with long-time friend and dancehall star Shaggy, long-time producer Carlton “Bubblers” Ogilvie, Shane Hoosang, Dwayne Shippy, Livingston Brown and The Ranch Crew.

“These are the kind of songs you get lost in regardless of the mood,” said the artiste, who is of Jamaican parentage.

His first nomination in 1994 was with Fe Real. Three years later, Man with the Fun also earned a nomination.

Other acts vying for the Best Reggae Album category are: Skip Marley ( Higher Place); Buju Banton ( Upside Down 2020); The Wailers ( One World); and Toots and The Maytals ( Got to Be Tough).

Initially, scheduled for February, the ceremony was postponed due to concerns about the spike in the novel coronavirus pandemic. It is slated to be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Maxi Priest said he had been using the time off caused by the pandemic to rest.

“God moves in mysterious ways, sometimes he says: ‘Chill out’. Before COVID, everything was just moving fast, especially with music, and with life in general. You just don’t stop to smell the roses. You don’t get to ask how is grandfather Joe, or aunt Florence cause there is so much going on. But now, with the pandemic, I have been able to check myself,” he said.

The singer has been in Jamaica for the last couple of months and he has used the hiatus to make a lot of new music, a new album called United State of Mind, shoot videos and shoot a Netflix documentary.

“There are so many things to do with the Internet, so I have been able to focus on business, to understand the things I have accumulated, and sort out my house. Black people are resilient, we will get through this, we have always had curve balls thrown at us, especially in England, and this is just another curve ball,” he said.

Priest’s musical career began with him singing on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International, after which some independent single releases followed. His first major album, Maxi (titled Maxi Priest in the US and Canada), was released in 1988, and, along with his cover of Cat Stevens’ Wild World, established him as one of the top British reggae singers.

He is one of only two British reggae acts (along with UB40) to have an American Billboard number one: Close to You in 1990. A duet with Roberta Flack, Set the Night to Music, reached the American Top Ten in 1991. His duet with Shaggy in 1996, That Girl, was also a hit in the United States, peaking at number 20.