Kaya Black does country hit reggae style
Kaya Black, son of renowned reggae photographer Johnnie Black, has hit the charts again, this time with a cover version of Darius Rucker’s 2016 country hit ‘If I Told You’.
The idea to do the cover came as a suggestion from Kaya Black’s trusted musical inner circle.
“[Record producer] J-Vibe one day said I sounded like a mixture of reggae, soul, R&B pop/rock and country. It wasn’t the first time I received this feedback. A lot of my fans have always said I sounded country as well. At first, I shied away from it. ‘I’m reggae’ I would always say. But it makes sense as a Jamaica-born artiste who loves country music, now living in North Carolina, that records in Nashville, Tennessee, to blend both sounds. I went ahead and tackled it head-on,” he explained.
The song premiered at No. 41 on the iTunes US reggae single charts and has been receiving consistent radio play in that country and other markets.
The song is the follow-up to Kaya Black’s cover of Rob Thomas’ Lonely No More and The Commodores’ Easy, which premiered at No. 45 and No. 73 on the iTunes reggae charts, respectively. Kaya Black also received recognition for his reggae cover of Last Christmas. While he has done successful reggaestyled cover songs, this is the first time he’s attempted the country genre.
“The strong line-up of Grammy Award-nominated and winning producers and engineers is a plus and I know this assisted me in impacting the charts,” he said.
Kaya Black is working on a cover EP which is slated for release later this year.