Amid the racial turmoil in Britain’s West Indian communities during the late 1970s, a mellow sound called lovers’ rock emerged in that country. It exploded through singers like Sugar Minott, Vivian Jones, Peter Hunnigale, and Carroll Thompson.

That genre will dominate the turntables at ‘Lovers Rock: A Night of British Reggae’, which takes place on February 15 at Pon Top Restaurant in Kingston.

It is a joint venture between photographer-broadcaster Steve James and Berty Grant, a stalwart of lovers’ rock.

James told the Jamaica Observer that an event revisiting the sound’s roots has been in the making for some time.

“The thought has been lingering in my mind for a number of years now. I started to plan a lovers’ rock show around 2010 with Sugar Minott and Vivian Jones as the main acts. However, Sugar [Minott] passed and the Dudus (West Kingston) incursion took place and after that occurred I didn’t really focus on it again, but the thought was always there,” he said. “Then it occurred to me, ‘Why not do it in Reggae Month and try to make it an annual event when we have a lot of visitors who would appreciate what we are doing while encouraging Jamaicans to have a listen?”

Grant, who was born in Kingston, migrated to the UK in 1966 and lived there for over 40 years. He was a big part of the sound system movement in the 1970s, a period of racial unrest in that country.

While militant black British youth formed bands like Aswad and Steel Pulse, other artistes recorded ballads inspired by the rocksteady craze that swept Jamaica in the late 1960s.

Grant worked with most of them as an engineer and producer, including Sugar Minott, Jones, and Thompson.

In the 1980s, lovers’ rock found its way on Jamaican airwaves through Maxi Priest, who was born in the UK to Jamaican parents. In recent years, Bitty McLean, another British singer with Jamaican heritage, made his mark with songs like Walk Away From Love.

— Howard Campbell