As singer D’Mack pondered his first song for 2023, he got some help from his wife Julia, who suggested he cover Jealous, a soul single done nine years ago by British artiste, Labrinth.

D’Mack’s reggae version, produced by Aubrey “Prince” Manning, was released in early September.

“It’s a relatable and heartfelt song which I think my audience would appreciate. Vocally, it matched my range and my genre. I was very emotional while singing this song. I had to put myself in that frame of mind in order to deliver,” he said.

Labrinth, who has Jamaican heritage, wrote Jealous about his absentee father. It was a strong seller throughout Europe, peaking at number seven on the British national chart.

Besides a reggae flavour, the Atlanta-based D’Mack and Manning (son of Donald Manning of The Abyssinians) agreed that their take on the song should be different from the original.

“We wanted to keep that steady reggae vibe. In order to do so we had to remove the bridge because it would take the song in a different direction. Also, the song would have been too long if we had kept it,” he explained.

Manning on drums, guitarist Leebert “Gibby” Morrison, bassist Tanagari Manning, percussionist David Pessoa, keyboardist Lloyd “Obeah” Denton, saxophonist Giovanni Cigui and vocalist Nicole Bert, backed D’Mack on Jealous.

Born Douglas McLeary in Portland, D’Mack migrated to Canada in his youth and got his start in music playing the Toronto reggae scene, where he was mentored by legendary keyboardist Jackie Mittoo.

He has recorded and released several songs in Canada and South Florida, where he moved to after leaving Toronto. His lone album, Odyssey, was produced by Karl Pitterson, engineer for Bob Marley’s Kaya album and producer of Steel Pulse’s classic True Democracy album.

Howard Campbell