‘Long live memories of D Brown’
Mikey Bennett remembers the Crown Prince of Reggae
Songwriter and producer Mikey Bennett remembers the first time that he collaborated with Dennis Brown, affectionately dubbed the Crown Prince of Reggae.
Brown, who died in July 1999, was born on February 1, 1957. He would’ve celebrated his 68th birthday today.
“For somebody who had just entered the game as a songwriter, writing for Dennis Brown was like the crown jewel. It was the excitement that you only dreamt of. When you sang a demo and you heard Dennis sing the same thing that you had sung and you listened to the demo, I realised the degree to which it had improved. And to be in a studio and hearing Dennis Brown sing something that you had written was unbelievable to me,” Bennett recalled in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday.
No More Walls is the name of the song that Bennett wrote for Brown.
“I remember the first experience I had writing a song… we had a little trouble getting him to do it. There was a point in the session that I got a little nervous trying to push too hard, and there was a long pause. Gussie Clarke, who was the producer, nudged me and said, ‘No man, let him do it the way him want it.’ He [Brown] did it, and when he came back ‘round to listen to it, him say, ‘Yute, this bad. We have a lot of work to do. My ear just full up,’ ” said Bennett.
After that first collaboration, Bennett produced several other songs for Brown and two full-length studio albums.
“Writing for Dennis Brown was like a dream come true. He brought a kind of charisma to each song. Long live the memories of Dennis Brown,” Bennett stated.
He lists songs including My Heart Cries for You, Revolution, Perhaps, If I Follow My Heart, Little Green Apples, If You Want Me, Love Has Found its Way, and Wichita Lineman among his favourite recorded by Brown.
Best known for the hits No Man is an Island, Silhouettes, How Could I Leave, Money in My Pocket (#14 on the UK Singles chart), Westbound Train, and Love Has Found its Way (#47 in the UK and #41 on Billboard R&B Songs chart in 1981), Dennis Brown began his career in the late 1960s.
On August 6, 2011 Brown was posthumously conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander for his contribution to the Jamaican music industry.
In 2023, respected American trade and music publication Rolling Stone ranked Brown at #67 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
