Anthony Cruz goes ‘Under the Covers’

In 2017, when reggae singer Anthony Cruz conceptualised a project that would see him delivering an album totally filled with cover songs, he genuinely “didn’t know that it had been done in Jamaica before, and wanted to be the first”.

Six years later – and possessing more knowledge than he had at the start of the project – the album with the cutest title is ready. All of 18 tracks long, Under the Covers is bursting with big-name producers who have placed their unmistakable reggae stamp on some of the most-loved love songs.

“ Under the Covers is my eighth album and on it I have recorded classic neo-soul and R&B cover songs. The songs I chose are all songs that I really love, but which the people connect with as well,” Cruz explained. “We have producers such as King Jammy, Donovan Germain, Bobby Digital, Tads Records, John John, Sugar Roy and the Fireball Crew, Ainsworth Higgings, aka ‘Big A’, and Christopher Knight.”

For Cruz, each song has a story. He recalled that when he was given the task of recording the Isley Brothers classic, For the Love of You, producer Donovan Germain asked him if he was sure he could sing it.

“The reason he asked that is because if yuh can’t sing good, yuh can’t sing dem song deh. Mi just laugh ask Germain, ‘How yuh mean if mi can sing it?’ This album has long been in the making, so many of the songs were recorded years ago, and even appeared on other albums,” he said.

Also listed among the titles are Foolish, an Ashanti original which is one of Cruz’s favourites; If You Were Here Tonight, released in 1985 by Alexander O’Neil; and Step in the Name of Love, originally released by R Kelly in 2003, and which the late Bobby Digital produced for Cruz. He hailed the producer for his genius and shared that he has a full unreleased album that he had worked on with the producer shortly before he passed away.

Under the Covers is one of four albums which the Mama Blessing singer took the time to complete during the pandemic. Three of the albums are for Tads Records and the other for King Jammy. He is proud about completing an album chockful of songs made popular by other people, and makes no apologies to the purists who view covers as cover-ups.

“Remember that I Will Always Love You is one of Whitney Huston’s biggest - if not the biggest - tunes. And it is a cover. That song was originally done by Dolly Parton. So there is definitely a huge space in all genres of music for covers to flourish,” Cruz stated.

I Will Always Love You was written and sung by Dolly Parton and was a chart-topping country hit in 1974. The classic attained mega status after Whitney Houston recorded it for the soundtrack to the 1992 film, The Bodyguard. The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1992, and spent 14 weeks at the top.

Cruz is confident that this latest offering will “wake up everyone”.

“We have the promotion and force from Tads [producer] behind it, and that is an area in which I would say my other projects fell short. For instance, this time we will be hosting three album launches, the first one is May 3 at Stone Love HQ at Burlington Ave, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; the second one is at Blue Martini in Fort Lauderdale, FL; and the third one is at the Ochi Seaford Lounge on Flatbush Ave, in New York City. We will be having lots of suprise guests and we will also be introducing a new artiste, Kristifakoke,” Cruz, who lived in the US prior to returning home to Jamaica to boost his career, said.

Under the Covers is available on pre-order.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com