Woman needs love - Reggae Cover produced by Derrick Taylor Purple Lion Label

A Woman Needs Love

Enjoy this great cover of a Teddy Pendergrass classic Love TKO produced by Derrick Taylor on the Purple Lion Label

Love TKO

"Beyond the Sea" was originally recorded in the late 50's early 60's by Bobby Darin and research shows that this is the first ever Reggae version.

Beyond The Sea

Born in Kingston Jamaica Michael was immersed in spiritual sounds of gospel music.  He showed signs of having musical skills when he started playing the drums in his school band. Even though he was self taught, Michael was clearly ahead of the others in the band in terms of his musical skills, despite being the youngest member of the band. At age 13 Michael joined his church choir and again despite being the youngest was soon asked to do solos which became a regular occurrence for many years.
 
At age 19 he landed his first professional gig as a cabaret singer, working at two of Kingston’s premier entertainment venues, The Wyndham and Jamaica Pegasus hotels. From there, Michael honed his stage craft and then extended his horizons to the north coast areas of Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril and soon became one of the most sought after cabaret singers on the North Coast at the age of 21. Audiences were captivated with his vibrant performances, masterful stage presence and his warm rapport.

In one of his performances on the Hotel circuit, Michael was heard by Richard Daley who was the bass player from Reggae super group Third World who was impressed with his vocal range and talent. Michael eventually went on to work with Third World on a production project for Polydor Records where he recorded several tracks and was on the verge of signing with the group. This however was not meant to be, as whilst the contract was being negotiated, differences within the group eventually resulted in two of the original founding members leaving the group.  

Soon after, he hooked up with musical prodigy Dean Fraser who Mendez describes as his musical godfather. This led to him adding background vocals for musical royalty such as Dennis Brown, Freddie McGregor, Gregory Isaacs and  Luciano and has also opened for international acts such as Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack and Jeffery Osborne.
Michael eventually met and became a full time backing vocalist  and toured internationally with Mickey Spice. 

Michael has spent the last couple of years building a credible reputation as a premier performer around the London music scene. He is now taking that a step further by releasing tracks that reflect his live performances and is looking forward to sharing these performances all over the world. Watch this space. !!!

Michael Mendez

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