Mallory Williams ‘Smoke it Like a Marley’ - Veteran reggae singer’s new single inspired by son
Published:Friday | August 28, 2020 | 12:06 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
These days, veteran reggae singer and musician Mallory Williams is no longer crooning about the exciting dancing skills of a girl named Poochie Lou; he prefers, instead, to chill and Smoke it like a Marley. That is actually the title of his latest track, which he says was inspired by one of his children.
As he related to The Gleaner, his son was in Denver, Colorado, USA, where marijuana is legal, but had a hard time finding some. “When he finally got some weed, he made a spliff and said, ‘I’m gonna smoke this one like a Marley.’ I immediately identified it as a great title and started writing some lyrics,” Williams said.
The track, which Williams says has been on iTunes “for a while”, is part of his new five-song EP, which sees the singer and musician exploring this format for the first time, and he explained the reason for this. “I don’t think albums work very well these days. What you really need is a hit song. If you put out albums with 10 to 15 songs, who is going to want to hear it unless it has a hit song?” he quizzed.
Smoke it Like a Marley, Williams said, has been receiving “lots of good commentary” and he expects no less for the EP. Among the songs are a cover of Gregory Isaacs’ Love Is Overdue, Left Cheek Right Cheek, Gwaan Cool, and a collab with his son. “There are at least three songs which I know will do well,” a confident Williams shared with The Gleaner.
The songs are released on his own Jamaica House Music, which is a music production and publishing company based in Denver, Colorado, where Williams resides. He pointed out that the company specialises in reggae, hip hop and dancehall music production, composition and remixing for record labels.
MERCHANDISE WITH A DIFFERENCE
Williams, who is best known for the hit song She Boom, has showed his entrepreneurship streak by capitalising on the success with merchandise with a difference. “I have created the Boom oil because that was a huge song, and it was also my first number one hit. The year was 1986. It was covered in French by the group Kulcha Konnection and rose to No. 1 on the French music charts,” he said.
According to his bio, She Boom not only reached number one on the charts, it also became the first music video which portrayed dancehall dancers and blazed a trail for other videos showcasing the dancehall movement.
As a musician, Williams – who is the son of famous pianist Luther Williams, and also cousin to singer, actress and model Grace Jones – has played keyboard for a wide cross section of reggae artistes, including Jimmy Cliff, and was part of the team which recorded Cliff’s gold album, The Power and Glory. He also toured with Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers and played on several albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Fallen is Babylon. As a keyboard player with the all-star backing band Lloyd Parkes and We the People, he accompanied other artistes such as Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Ken Boothe and John Holt.