Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Alicia Keys and Junior Reid perform at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 18, 2007. - AP

THE funky strains of It's Okay (One Blood) blares from speakers in a room at singer Junior Reid's JR studio.

Reid's trademark wail sounds as intense as 18 years ago when he recorded the original. One Blood got the remix treatment in 2006 at the request of West Coast artiste The Game, a major player in hip hop. Not only was the new version a hit, but it breathed new life into the career of one of reggae's most talented, but unpredictable, performers.

Show-stopping performance

Last year, hip hop came calling again in the form of M.I.M.S. (Music Is My Saviour), an unknown rapper who teamed with Reid on This Is Why I'm Hot, a hot jam that rocked clubs and topped Billboard's pop chart.

The Junior Reid comeback was complete last November when he gave a show-stopping performance alongside Alicia Keys and contemporaries Chaka Demus and Pliers and Beenie Man at the American Music Awards. With Keys he cut another remix, a reggae version of her hit song, No One.

Reid, dressed in a red Boboshanti turban, jeans and boots, rocked in a chair on the porch of his Lindsay Crescent complex. He spoke like a man enjoying his new-found fame.

"I have a total new career, a new fan base," he said. "I have fans who are four-years-old who are logging on to the computer and telling dem parents, 'Yo, he's got more than two songs'."

That he has. Junior Reid has been recording since 1978, his debut song being Speak the Truth, produced by wunderkind roots singer Hugh Mundell for dub master Augustus Pablo's Rockers label.

Over the last 30 years, Reid has recorded a bevy of hits which include Foreign Mind, Listen To The Voices, Married Life and All Fruits Ripe. In the mid-1980s, he had a two-year stint with Black Uhuru, writing The Great Train Robbery and Yuh Haffi Fit, two of the roots group's biggest hits.

Reid says he covers a lot of ground when he performs these days.

"Yuh have a set a people waan hear One Blood, some waan hear Foreign Mind. Den yuh have people waan hear This Is Why I'm Hot," he said.

Reid plans to satisfy this diverse demographic on his new album, scheduled to be released in April. A mix of the roots-reggae on which he was weaned, dancehall and hip hop, it features collaborations with dancehall acts like Bugle and hip-hop heavyweights Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne.

At 43-years-old, Junior Reid is one of the last giants of roots dancehall. Several of his contemporaries (Tenor Saw, Nitty Gritty, Toyan) have died, while others (Yami Bolo, Tristan Palma and Little John) have not lived up to their early promise.

Drummer Sly Dunbar, who worked with Reid during his Uhuru years, is not surprised at his comeback.

"Junior Reid always have a unique sound, I always know him woulda be something special," said Dunbar. "A singer like that will go through a patch but will get back. They just need the right connections."

Hugh Mundell was the 'right connection' for Junior Reid 30 years ago. The 13-year-old from Wailers Corner in Waterhouse met the 16-year-old Mundell at the legendary King Tubbys studio, not far from Reid's home.

Reid's major influence

Mundell was reportedly so impressed by the youth's voice that he took him to Pablo's August Town base and recorded Speak The Truth Mundell was only three years older, Reid says he was a major influence on his life.

"Him was mi brethren, mi godfather. Mundell used to encourage mi everyday," Reid recalled.

When Mundell was shot by a gunman while driving on Grants Pen Avenue in 1983, 18-year-old Reid was in the vehicle. Mundell died shortly after at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

There have been other dramatic chapters in Reid's life, though not as tragic. His United States visa was revoked in June 1987 after he was caught in Kingston with a marijuana spliff. It would be eight years before he was allowed to travel to that country.

Reid has had an indifferent relationship with overseas record companies. In the 1990s, he cut ties with the British company Big Life after distribution differences and turned down an offer to sign with pop superstar Madonna's Maverick Records because they wanted to 'tie mi down'.

There is a possibility that a major label will be involved with Reid's first album of new material in six years. He said keeping the JR banner flying and protecting his legacy is utmost.

"Mi have all mi original tapes and own the rights to my song dem," he said. "Rememba, Marcus (Garvey) always sey ownership important."