Singer encourages persons to ‘never give up’
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Robert ‘Marky’ Sutherland says a conversation with a friend inspired him to pen the lyrics to the single Never Give Up.
Sutherland’s friend, who operated a shop, was thinking of closing it down, which led Sutherland to exclaim “You crazy? Never give up!”
A lightbulb went off and he could literally see the song forming in his head. Though recorded before the pandemic, Sutherland saw the need to push it to the fore again.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has a lot of people in a tailspin. It seems as if the world is stuck somewhere on its axis and, if ever there is a time when people need an encouraging word to keep them mentally strong, it is now,” shared Sutherland.
He said that it is his hope that listeners will walk away with the assurance that, no matter how bad the circumstances, they should ‘never give up’, as light is at the end of the tunnel.
Before migrating to the United States, Sutherland was a guitarist with the renowned Ruption Band where he backed top entertainers such as Dillinger, Ken Boothe, JC Lodge, Leroy Sibbles and Damion Marley. Following the break-up of the band, Sutherland penned the song Times So Hard which caught the attention of DJs in Europe and Australia. It led to his debut album Courage on his own Nijeri label.