In 1966, American soul and R&B singer, Aaron Neville, made his debut with the hit single, Tell It Like It Is, which peaked at number one the Billboard R&B charts.
In 2008, Jamaican singer, Stevie Face made an awesome comeback with a cover of this Aaron Neville hit, a song he was inspired to sing because it was a favourite of his grandmother’s.
“I grew up on this song,” Stevie recalls. “My grandmother would always just sing the first line and hum the rest because she didn’t know any of the words except ‘tell it like it is.'”
It didn’t take Stevie very long to find the lyrics and soon he was singing the entire song, from beginning to end. The one Sunday morning, he had a brain wave, why not record the song and put it out? He immediately called top flight producer Paul ‘Computer Paul’ Henton and told him of the plan. Paul listened and gave it his stamp of approval.
Originally, the tune was a duo with dancehall act, Stacious, but that subsequently changed and the version that hit the streets was Stevie Face singing solo.
“And the rest, as they say, is history,” Stevie commented.}
According to Computer Paul, who manages and produces the artiste, “The song just take off … in Jamaica, but even moreso overseas. It raced up the charts in Italy, New York, South Florida, London (Choice and BBC Xtra), Birmingham, St Croix, Toronto, and as a result Stevie has been getting calls from all over the world.”
With vocals that are well suited to the song, Stevie does a masterful cover of Tell It Like It Is, giving it enough of a reggae feel to make it authentic.
Among his upcoming engagements are a Valentine’s show at Brixton Academy where he will perform alongside Cocoa Tea, Tarrus Riley and Etana.
Source: Dancehallreggaeweseh.com
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