Toppa Top 8: Eight Reggae Albums By Non-Reggae Stars

Words by Jesse Serwer and Raine Martin—

Snoop isn’t the first major act from another music genre to suddenly wake up and decide they want to be a reggae artist. Country icons, iconoclastic Irish singers and provocative French pop stars have all given in to the lure of Jamaican music, making similar left turns with varying levels of success and authenticity. Here’s a look at eight well-known and well-regarded, non-reggae artists who went all the way in, recording full-on reggae albums either in Jamaica, or at least with the help and support of some noted reggae producers and musicians.

Sinead O’Connor-Throw Down Your Arms

Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, best known for her shaved head and outspoken politics (and also her 1990 cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”), recorded this album of mostly Rastafari-themed covers (including “Marcus Garvey,” among several others by Burning Spear, and Junior Byles’ “Curly Locks”) with Sly and Robbie while recovering from fibromyalgia in Jamaica. Word is Sinead put her money where her mouth was, donating 10% of the profits to support Rastafari elders in Jamaica. Snoop will be wise to follow her example.

Youssou N’Dour—Dakar-Kingston

Best known in the States for his collaborations with Peter Gabriel (he’s the guy singing in Wolof at the beginning of “In Your Eyes”) and Paul Simon, Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour has been one of the leading voices of Francophone Africa for three decades. In recent years he has worked closely with keyboardist Tyrone Downie of Wailers fame, who brought N’Dour to Jamaica in 2010 for sessions at Tuff Gong Studios with musicians including Mikey Fletcher and Earl “China” Smith, as well as Morgan Heritage. The result was 2010’s aptly titled Dakar-Kingston.

Serge Gainsbourg-Aux Armes Et Cætera

Decades before Vybz Kartel and Spice were banned for being lyrically lewd and lascivious on Jamaica airwaves, French singer/songwriter/poet/composer Serge Gainsbourg and English singer Jane Birkin were ramping rough on the orgasmic “Je t’aime…Moi Non Plus”– a single so risqué that the record executive who released it in Italy was supposedly excommunicated by the Vatican. Ironically, it was the first French single ever in regular rotation on Jamaican popular radio. Finding a solid footing with Jamaican audiences, Gainsbourg went to Jamaica in the late ‘70s, calling on the musical genius of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and the backing vocals of the I-Threes. 1979’s Aux Armes Et Cetera, a mixture of Gainsbourg’s patriotism, politics, and vulgar sexual fantasies, was France’s first reggae album. The title track, a reggae version of the French National Anthem “La Marseillaise,” was perceived by some as an insult to the French Republic and became even more controversial than “Je t’aime,” with death threats and the whole nine. Allegedly Bob Marley was also insulted that Gainsbourg had his wife Rita singing slackness on tunes like “Lola Rastaquouere.” Gainsbourg teamed again in 1981 with Sly & Robbie and the I-Threes, as well as Ansel Collins, on another reggae LP, Mauvaises Nouvelles des Etoiles.

Bob Sinclar-Made in Jamaica

The French just love them some reggae, and that includes noted disco/house producer Bob Sinclar. Sinclar had previously featured Wailers singer Gary Pine on his hit single “Love Generation” but in 2009 he visited Jamaica, where he collaborated with Shabba Ranks,  Queen Ifrika and Tony Rebel on that year’s mult-genre LP, Born in ’69. The following year  saw the release of Made in Jamaica, a remix LP with Sly and Robbie featuring versions of all of his previous reggae tunes, and some new ones as well.

Willie Nelson-Countryman

Given his outlaw stance, laidback personal and O.G. ganja farmer status, it’s no surprise that country music’s toppa top rebel Willie Nelson would find commonality with reggae music and artists. Reportedly 10 years in the making, 2005’s Countryman was a mixture of Nelson-penned originals and covers of recognizable-to-white-folks reggae staples like Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” and “Sitting in Limbo.” Few of the musicians who played on this one were Jamaican, but ol’ Willie did manage to round up Toots Hibbert, who appears on a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I’m a Worried Man,” a track which was released as a single with a nice-looking, Jamaica-shot video.

Johnny Nash-I Can See Clearly Now

Houston-born singer/songwriter and actor Johnny Nash had transitioned into a career as a producer and music executive for JAD, the New York label he co-founded with the late Danny Sims, when a late-60’s trip to Jamaica with his then-girlfriend led to his becoming the first non-Jamaican to record reggae—and a key figure in the internationalization of Bob Marley. Nash and Sims (who would become Bob’s long-time manager) had hoped to break rocksteady in the U.S. when an encounter with Marley led them to the new sound burgeoning on the island. Marley signed his first U.S. record contract with JAD (though the label only released two singles, including “Reggae on Broadway,”) while Nash would record four of Marley’s tunes himself. While those tracks (“Guava Jelly”, “Comma Comma”, “You Poured Sugar On Me” and “Stir It Up”) would appear on Nash’s ’72 album I Can See Clearly Now, the breakout hit was the title track—the first reggae tune to successfully chart in the U.S.

Grace Jones-Warm Leatherette

Grace Jones was a disco star in the late ’70s, scoring dance hits with campy tunes like “La Vie en rose” that earned her a place in the inner circle of Andy Warhol and Studio 54. But it was at the dawn of the ’80s when the Spanish Town, Jamaica native truly made her mark on music, with new-wave influenced yet reggae-centric recordings made at Chris Blackwell’s Bahamas studio Compass Point with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. Warm Leatherette was the first album Jones made with Sly and Robbie (other Jamaican musicians who took part included percussionist Uziah “Sticky” Thompson and guitarist Mikey Chung), a partnership continued on the similarly dynamic Nightclubbing and Living My Life, released in ’81 and ’82, respectively. Jones, in fact, has continued to work with the Riddim Twins, who appeared on two tracks from 2008’s Hurricane.

Heavy D-Vibes

Heavy D’s rightful place in music history is as one of the most charismatic MCs to emerge from hip hop’s golden age from the mid ‘80s through early ‘90s. However, Jamaican-born Dwight Myers will also go down in the books as one of the first to bring Hip-Hop’s distant cousin Dancehall into the mélange of America’s urban soundscape (Check our story, “Heds and Dreds: Remembering the Big Belly Gorgon, Heavy D,” for a full overview of these contributions). In 2008, the late Overweight Lover released Vibes, his first and only full reggae album. Featuring cameos by Barrington Levy, Wyclef and Sizzla, Vibes’ groovy retro reggae crooning and wicked and wild dancehall stylee earned the Big Belly Gorgon a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album in 2009. One of the gems on this album is Heavy’s rendition of the Techniques’ classic “Queen Majesty.”

+1: Keith Richards-Wingless Angels

Okay, first thing, Nyabinghi is not reggae, which is why Keith Richards’ project is not in our main countdown. But binghi drumming is, in many respects, the spiritual heartbeat of reggae music, and Keith Richards’ venture into the form represents one of the most unique forays into Jamaican music by a non-Jamaican. Sir Keith, who bought a home on Jamaica’s North Coast after recording portions of the Rolling Stones’ Goat Head Soup album there in the ’70s, had for years been hosting regular sessions with Rasta musicians including ska pioneer Justin Hinds in his living room, when he gathered the crew for 1998’s Wingless Angels project. Years later (the project was released in 2010 but recorded a full half-decade earlier), Richards (who we interviewed about the project in 2010) reconvened the unit for a second session, Wingless Angels II, the last-ever recording to feature Hinds, who died of lung cancer in 2005.