One Love, One Life featuring Beres Hammond & Maxi Priest

Overview

Midnite Productions along with 4 Seasons Party Cruise joined together to bring BIG REGGAE to the city of Charlotte and surrounding areas. Midnite Production proudly presents King of Lovers Rock, Beres Hammond and internationally renowned singer Maxi Priest.  

Beres Hammond, Jamaica’s greatest practicing singer/songwriter remains cool, though he knows that he’s one of a handful of people responsible for maintaining a mighty legacy of soulful reggae music. Over the course of a 30-year career, Beres has poured his smoky-sweet voice—an instrument of subtlety and power reminiscent of an Otis Redding or a Teddy Pendergrass—over every kind of rhythm track, from the funked-up reggae jams of the ’70s to lush instrumentation of his album Soul Reggae to the spare digital beat of his 1985 dancehall breakthrough “What One Dance Can Do.”

Although the trend of self-production and isolated individuals poking at computer keyboards has diluted the quality of music, Beres’ spontaneous method of composing, and his unwillingness to compromise, made a home studio the natural choice. His little “sound room” studio attracts a steady stream of Jamaica’s most talented musicians. He knows all too well that the survival of classical reggae music depends on such oases of creativity. “We a try bring back the golden days of the Seventies, when reggae had the live drums and horn sections.”

“I personally don’t believe in a whole heap of technology business, No computer can rock quite as steady as these veteran musicians. It’s all about what you have to offer. As long as your vibes is there, that’s what the people feel.” -Beres Hammond-
“Beres’ sophisticated musical taste is well suited to translate easily across cultural divides, yet the international reggae massive has remained his most loyal fan base.”
- VP Records Exec-

Maxi Priest has earned his place among other greats such as Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Toots & The Maytals and Dennis Brown in spreading the reggae gospel far and wide. This is an extraordinary achievement for a singer steeped in Jamaican music, yet raised in South London.
Maxi’s joyous brand of reggae and lovers’ rock, infused with R&B and accompanied by real charisma, has brought him a level of success no other British reggae singer can match.
Maxi had first learned to sing in church. The second to last of nine brothers and sisters, he’d honed his craft listening to Jamaican greats such as Dennis Brown, John Holt, and Gregory Isaacs, as well as singers like Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Beatles, Phil Collins and Frank Sinatra.
International acclaim soared with his 1990 album ‘Bonafide, which spawned the hits ‘Just A Little Bit Longer,’ ‘Best Of Me,’ ‘Peace Throughout The World,’ and ‘Close To You.’ He is one of only two British reggae acts (along with UB40) to have an American Billboard number one: "Close to You" in 1990. More than twenty years later and Maxi Priest is still the only reggae singer – from anywhere, including Jamaica – to have a No. 1 hit in America.

A duet with Roberta Flack, "Set the Night to Music", reached the American Top Ten in 1991. His duet with Shaggy in 1996, "That Girl", was also a hit in the United States, peaking at number twenty.

The people of Charlotte are definitely in for a treat on Friday, August 23rd. Both artists are definite crowd pleasers and will give the audience memories of a lifetime!