KINGSTON, Jamaica — For the past 15 years, singer Andrew Bees has straddled a solo career with recording and touring as lead singer of Black Uhuru.
Bees, who is in his early 40s, joined the Grammy winners in the mid-1990s but has maintained his own career, working out of Los Angeles.
He is currently pushing the song Vatican, which he co-produced with Fitzroy Francis, his mentor and head of the independent Mightyful13 Records.
“It’s not a challenge to record as a solo artiste but with Black Uhuru there have been many challenges since my first and second studio albums,” Bees told the OBSERVER ONLINE. “As you know Black Uhuru sound is considered as the ‘Waterhouse sound’ and I see myself having an original of my own which I incorporate with the Black Uhuru sound. I always try to keep my approach as Andrew Bees because no one can duplicate Michael Rose,” he added.
Francis and Bees are from Waterhouse, a gritty Kingston community that has produced a number of top acts including the Wailing Souls, Hugh Mundell, Junior Reid and Rose.
Francis was once road manager for Black Uhuru, winners of the first Grammy for Best Reggae Album with Anthem in 1985. He produced Militant, Bees’ first album.
“It means a lot to be recording with Mightyful13 Records as me and Fitzroy go back to the ’80s,” said Bees.
The 43-year-old Bees was born Oneil Norman Beckford. He grew up in a Waterhouse community torn by political and gang violence but music gave many youth there a path out of crime and poverty.
He made his Uhuru debut on the 1998 album, Unification, produced by Waterhouse legend Lloyd ‘King Jammys’ James. Among his previous recordings for Mightyful13 Records was a cover of Delroy Wilson’s Better Must Come.
Howard Campbell
