It is the norm for Jamaican studio engineers to evolve into music production. Think Lee “Scratch” Perry, Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock, Lloyd “King Jammy” James, Robert “Bobby Digital” Dixon, and the Kelly brothers, Tony and Dave.

Chester Walker followed that path, rubbing shoulders with some of the greats along the way.

A producer since 1998, his latest project, Celebration Time, is a collaboration between singer Wayne Wonder, deejay Charly Black and DJ Wiz.

Wayne Wonder and Charly Black have had success on pop markets — the former with No Letting Go and Charly Black with Gyal You A Party Animal.

Walker is hoping for a return to such heights with Celebration Time, done for his Very Huge Records.

“Crossover was always in my mind while producing it. That’s always the vibration of my frequency,” he said.

A self-described Babyface fanatic, Walker said the American singer-songwriter’s use of acoustic guitars in his hit songs influenced his productions, which include Water From Mi Eye by Bounty Killer, Spragga Benz’s Player, and Feeling The Vibes by Sean Paul.

“A me add di acoustic guitar to dancehall. Mi love Babyface music an’ how him work with guitar an’ thing, like When Can I See You Again an’ Water Runs Dry (Boyz II Men), so mi try use dat sound fi get a different flavour,” he explained.

The St Thomas-born Walker got into the music business during the early 1990s. He learned the intricacies of engineering from some of dancehall/reggae’s leading lights, including the Kellys, Steven Stanley, Geoffrey Chung, and Colin “Bulby” York.

For several years Walker was resident engineer for producers Steely and Clevie. Some of the hit songs he has worked on for them are Wayne Wonder’s Baby You And I and Ting A Ling (Shabba Ranks).

He branched out into production 26 years ago, and has worked consistently with acts such as Wayne Wonder, Bounty Killer and Elephant Man.