OVER the years, singer Anthony Cruz has scored hits with covers of Usher’s U Got It Bad, Santana and Product G&B’s Maria Maria, and Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway’s The Closer I Get to You.

Among his most recent are Giveon’s Heartbreak Anniversary and Silk Sonic’s (Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak) Billboard chart-topper and global hit Leave the Door Open.

Leave The Door Open is currently 11 on the South Florida reggae chart, moving up two places from 13. Anthony Cruz explained his decision to put his spin on the track.

“The first time that I heard the song, it brought me back to when we used to watch Soul Train. The song is full of so much soul and Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak have two of the toughest voices I’ve heard in a while. When I got the song, me listen to it about 100 times. Big up to Willie and Kashief Lindo for mixing it and Paul ‘Lymie’ Murray for the harmonies,” Anthony Cruz disclosed.

Leave The Door Open is among several covers of songs that will be featured on the album Under the Covers, which Anthony Cruz recorded for Tads Records.

“This album is something that I’ve always wanted to do. The covers have been good to me over the years and I’ve never seen anyone locally put out an all covers album. I’m very excited about it and we have a number of producers who worked with us including Mixing Finger, Penthouse, Shan Shan Music, Heavy Beat, and Chris Knight,” Anthony Cruz shared.

Anthony Cruz also has another album on the way which is produced by Lloyd “King Jammys” James.

“Jammys studio is one of the studios that I am usually at, especially when I started out doing music in Jamaica. Jammys produced a big hit for me called Turn it Up and he’s been a very good producer to work with. He taught me how to produce and mix a song. The first time that I went into his studio, he said to me, you have a very good voice yute,” Anthony Cruz recalled.

The untitled album for Jammys is currently being mixed and mastered.

Anthony Cruz (real name Rowan Smith) is from Manchester but relocated for a short time to South Florida where he met producer Willie Lindo and jump started his music career.

“Initially, I wanted to be a mechanic and fix cars. I even studied auto mechanics in school. After leaving Holmwood Technical High, I moved to Florida where I started my music career. Willie Lindo gave me my first hit song For Your Love. I then came back to Jamaica and that’s when I started to take music more seriously,” said Anthony Cruz.

Among his hit songs are Half Way Tree, Place Too Bloody, and No Gun a Dance.