Festiville 2014 - Reggaeville Festival Guide

Interview Maxi Priest 15
EASY TO LOVE
by JUSTINE KETOLA
Maxi Priest returns with his first album in nearly
a decade with EASY TO LOVE. Making a
record with an all-star cast of reggae producers
like Colin “Bulby” York, Handel Tucker, Donovan
Germain, Clive Hunt, Andre Fennell and
the Red Boyz would only be natural for this top
selling artist. Releasing it through VP Records
for the first time, the album showcases the
talent of Maxi alongside artists such as Beres
Hammond, Agent Sasco aka Assasin, and musicians
Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Earl
“Chinna”Smith & Steven “Lenky” Marsden.
It has been said that Beres Hammond was
actually instrumental in getting you to
record this new set.
Big time, you know every time I would
cross paths with Beres, he would always be
like, ‘Yo, Priest, we need to do something
with VP as like a foundation kind of thing,
almost like bring it home kind of thing.’ I
am very glad that we have done that because
I honestly feel really kind of grounded.
It’s almost like a piece of the jigsaw
puzzle in this beautiful career of mine, of
Maxi Priest…to have VP on board. I just feel
welcomed, I feel at home.
You are an icon in reggae fusion, the 90‘s
would not be the same without you, from
the opening track of your single from last
year, “Easy To Love”, you sing a fragment
from the Zapp and Roger Troutman hit
“Computer Love”. Does this music, the original
80‘s style old school R&B move you, is
it something you groove to still?
Of course, for me, music in all shapes and
forms, it doesn’t die for me. It’s almost like
fine wine, it gets better and better. Obviously
if we take it back, it just brings us back to
childhood days, and times and moments that
you can never ever bring back. That’s the
beauty about music, in the time that you are
or were in, there was a particular song or
sound of music playing at the time that will
always bring you back to these memories.
I’ve had people stop me and say, ‘You know
I had my baby in hospital, listening to your
music.’ Those kind of things that means a
lot. It makes me feel as though I have played
a part in this world that we live in.