As a singer and producer, Colin “Iley Dread” Levy is synonymous with roots-reggae, having produced albums and songs by some of that genre’s leading names. But on his upcoming album, he goes gospel.

Joyful Noise is the title of the 13-song set which is scheduled for release this summer by his Kings of Kings, the label he started in 1995, five years after he moved to Canada from Jamaica. Two singles, Miracle (with Judy Mowatt) and Mama Prayer, have been released.

Iley Dread told Observer Online that he never planned to record a gospel project, but personal challenges drove his writing in that direction.

“I was inspired to write these songs, it wasn’t intentional, it’s just the inspiration that came to my thoughts, based on the emotions, experience and challenges I was facing,” he explained. “I was just crying, crying out to the Most High.”

Those “challenges” included a five-year prison term that ended with his release last summer. Since then, the Toronto-based Iley Dread has recorded a number of songs with producers including Clive Hunt, Dean Fraser and Stephen Marley.

Joyful Noise will be his sixth album, his previous collection being Unleashed, which was released in 2012. It represents a change of message for Iley Dread who recorded and produced a cache of Rasta-inspired songs for Kings of Kings in the 1990s and early 2000s. Persistence, a 2000 album and song of the same name by Norris Man, is one of the label’s biggest achievements.

From May 10-12, Iley Dread teams-up with several major acts for ‘Wonderful Vibrations’, an event in Ontario, Canada celebrating Mother’s Day.

The shows, which are scheduled for Toronto, Pickering and North York, feature Luciano, Turbulence, Lieutenant Stitchie, Singing Melody, Thriller U, Richie Stephens, Norris Man, Glen Washington, Natty King and Professor Nuts.