Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Courtney 'Yogi' John - contributed

AFTER MAKING a mark with rockers such as That Was Then, singer/producer Yogie yearned to take his music, and career, to the cliched 'next level".

This new phase starts with a name change, Courtney John, and a new album titled Unselfish.

Recently released, Unselfish is a contemporary lover's rock album with old-school charm which has already spawned two hit songs in When You Say and Love's Gonna Lead The Way.

Another number, the funky This One, was favourably received. There are plans to release the Sly and Robbie-produced Baby Tonight locally as the next single, but ultimately John has bigger plans.

Local for now

"We are doing it local for now because Jamaica is really the epicenter of reggae, it's like Nashville for country music," he said between sips of Chamomile tea. "When the new year rolls in an' the companies have new budgets we'll look overseas."

Having worked with heavyweight hip-hop producer Timbaland and Canadian singer Nelly Feurtado, the dreadlocked John has forged strong links with major labels in recent years. In an era when pop acts are clocking mind-boggling sales in record time, he told The Gleaner that there is no rush to hook up with a big company.

Don't want to be signed

"I don't want to be signed to a record company just to make headlines, we want to make sure first that we resonate with the grassroots. It's really a strategy and the hip-hop artistes have shown that," he explained. "No hip-hop artiste is getting signed (to a major label) if they are not selling 100,000 units independently.

"People are still going to call me Yogie but as an artiste I hear things different. When I was Yogie, things just felt monotonous," he said. "Yogie as an artiste was just regular, Courtney John has more to offer."

Yogie came into the business in the late 1990s as a Canada-reared singer with strong reggae genes. The nephew of singer Beres Hammond, it was not long before he broke through with That Was Then. This was followed by I Go Crazy, a cover of blue-eyed soul singer Paul Davis' 1977 hit.