Working with star artistes can sometimes be a challenge for producers, but Kenneth Thompson found collaborating with Sanchez anything but. His Kenergi Music Entertainment company produced Jamdown, the singer’s latest album, which was released on April 11 by VPAL Music.

This is Sanchez’s first album since 2011’s Love You More, produced by Donovan Germain.

“Sanchez has been one of my longtime, favourite artists, l (always) admired his professionalism. I was considering other artists for the album project but Sanchez’s enthusiastic response convinced me he was the perfect fit,” said Thompson.

The New York-based Thompson wrote or co-wrote the 10 songs on Jamdown which contains the title song, Disloyalty and Hot Girls. He was introduced to Sanchez by a mutual friend, and they agreed to work together on songs that ultimately became Jamdown.

Because his admiration for Sanchez goes back years, Thompson said there was no difficulty writing for him.

“For this album, my songwriting approach involved exploring diverse topics, often drawing from personal experiences. Listening to Sanchez over the years, I envisioned the music in my mind…write some new songs and select songs written before to ensure each song resonates deeply,” he explained.

Sanchez is one of dancehall-reggae’s most consistent hitmakers. Since his breakthrough almost 40 years ago with the Winston Riley-produced Loneliness, he has recorded a number of hit songs including End of The World, Never dis di Man, I Can’t Wait, One In A Million, Fall in Love and Old Friends.

– Howard Campbell