REGGAE royalty Beres Hammond will perform live in concert at Studio 38, Pulse Centre, Trafalgar Road this evening. Hammond is the fourth performer in the Live at Studio 38 series, following such greats as John Holt and Ken Booth in January, as well as Freddie McGregor who performed last month. Toots and the Maytals will perform on Sunday March 28. Beres will perform an extended 2- hour set, featuring his greatest hits. So far, the Studio 38 performances have been riveting and Beres will undoubtedly deliver his usual incomparable performance. This will be the first time in his illustrious career that Hammond will perform an extended set in front of an intimate audience, so it is fairly certain that his will be a performance worth going miles to see.

One highlight of the Studio 38 series is the fact that featured performers deliver full sets, and, apart from the opening act, they perform alone. Hammond will be backed by his own band. Lloyd Parks and We The People will open the show. As customary, the fun starts at 6:00 pm with the featured performances taking the stage later.

Beres Hammond is perhaps the greatest reggae balladeer to record an album, particularly in the lovers rock genre. With vocal skills often compared to Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Freddie McGregor, and Glen Washington, he has been wooing reggae fans with his smooth voice and strong lyrics since the 1970s.

Born Hugh Beresford Hammond on August 28, 1955, he grew up with his large family in Annotto Bay in Saint Mary, Jamaica. Like many early Jamaican reggae stars, he listened to American jazz, soul, and R&B recordings, and claims direct influence by classic American soul singers Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Otis Redding. He was also influenced by ska and rocksteady music from Peter Tosh, the Heptones, and Ken Boothe – the precursors to Jamaican reggae and dancehall.

Beres Hammond’s career began with the 1973 release of his first track, a cover of Alton Ellis’s Wanderer. He briefly joined Jamaican band Zap Pow as the lead vocalist in 1975. He also debuted in 1976 with Soul Reggae, his first solo reggae album.

Hammond’s solo career quickly took off with the hit singles One Step Ahead (which topped the Jamaican music charts) and I’m in Love, which he released with legendary reggae producer Joe Gibbs in 1978. That same year Zap Pow released the hit single The System, but it was clear that Beres Hammond was more successful as a solo performer, so he left the band in 1979. In the following months he occasionally had to work as a session singer to cover his bills while waiting for royalty cheques.

Hammond went on to create his own Harmony Records label in 1985. He released Make a Song on Harmony Records tapping into the emerging Jamaican dancehall music sound to reach new audiences. Make a Song included 2 hit singles, Groovy Little Thing and What One Dance Can Do, which Willie Lindo produced and became his most successful Jamaican music release ever.