This interview with Beres Hammond, conducted by David Rodigan, was broadcast on Kiss 100fm in London on 11th of February 2001.

Rodigan The master is in the house. Hopefully Beres, your neighbours are not distresseed by the music you make, they need to stop, and think and realise that music is life. I thank you on behalf of all your fans for the wonderful music you've given us over the years. When did it become apparent to you that music was actually going to be your life?

Beres 'Round about 15 years old. Somewhere around there.

Rodigan School choir? Where did it all start?

Beres Started like the average Jamaican. Rodigan, you should know that we have more churches than anywhere else in the world! So we all, not just Beres, we all had a church background in all of us lives. I actually went to about three churches, so automatically I had to be on this choir over here and the other choir ,you know? Not that I really liked it at the time! But then presently I get to realise it w as an experience that I should, and I'm really proud.

Rodigan The perfect grounding in fact. Spiritually and vocally. Lifting souls!

(track played "Rock Away")

Rodigan Those were the days, bringing love back into the dancehalls. This is one of my favourites off the album (Music Is Life). What brought this on?

Beres I think it's about time somebody salute the music of the '60s and '70s. 'Cause I was brought up basically on these kind of sounds; people like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder. As far as I'm concerned, I mean I don't really wanna compare, but those were better sounds, and the thing I can remember well is that when these songs were out, people actually used to love and respect. Not saying that we don't have respect today, try to understand what I'm saying, but it was really different. You could feel it in them times. Now I actually have to ask somebody if you love (laughs). And the music had a lot to do with that time. The music made people fall in love.

Rodigan It was a very rich period, and many of those songs have been done over. I mean, "Rescue Me" Fontella Bass, licked over just last year.

Beres The melodies were just wonderful, and I'm thinking, I haven't heard anybody done a song saluting these people, so I might as well.

(Track played: Wanna Cry)

Rodigan Apart from the lyrics and the melody, the keys ingredients to any hit song of course, you also specialise in arrangements. The hornsmen must love being called to one of your sessions because, always plenty for them to do. Do you have those horn arrangements set in your mind before the players arrive?

Beres No, no, no, no, no. You just know that this song have to have horns. And I must say much respect to the musicians, 'cos working in the studios with these musicians, tend to make your job easier. Yeah man, working with Dean Fraser, and people like those. They help in the arrangements, I must be honest with you.

(Track played: They're Gonna Talk")

Rodigan Another distinctive quality of your music is the harmonies that you place behind your lead vocal, a perfect example being that, the back up harmonies there. Who did you especially bring in for that? Who was working with you?

Beres Well, on that particular track, this is my present back-up singers, Dwisdom and Nicky Tucker- and myself.

Rodigan And your own recording studio as well...

Beres Yes, Silekshan!

Rodigan That must make your life altogether more comfortable in terms of having time to just...

Beres Well, well, yes. Time, as far as having the time is concerned, I got that, but it's much more pressuring, and much more demanding of me y'know? Because then, I realise people from all walks of life start coming in, singers and DJ's. What should have made my life much easier, is more pressure. Is just that I love what I do anyway, so it makes it knd of easier.

Rodigan What I love about the way you lick over an old rhythm, is that you often make it sound better than the original. You've done a great version of the Heptones "Get In The Groove", and you've also re-built Alton Ellis' "I'm Just A Guy" rhythm, and on that single "They're Gonna Talk", you took on Winston Francis' "Mr. Fix It". What prompts you to choose the rhythm? What's the moment where it...

Beres I have a bredren named Flabba, Flabba Holt. He's one of the persons...Flabba is always in me ears, y'know "Beres.b-b-b- boom boom, b-b-b-boom boom". So Flabba is actually the person who prompt me into doing things a lot of times. He has the ideas and then I just put my input, say "OK that sound nice but lets do it this way." It is basically vibes.

(Track played: Dusty Road)

Rodigan Now, "Ain't It Good To Know", Heptones "Get In The Groove" rhythm, when did you write it and what in particular brought it about?

Beres When did I write it? It's just like all of the songs. Between you and I, I never write a song overnight, and say "OK, I'm gonna do this today." That's never hapened to me. Everything about this start bubbling as soon as I walk through the studio door, that's how I record, that's how I write. It's gotta be right there and then.

(Track played: Ain't It Good To Know)

Rodigan Blazing horns there!

Beres Dean Fraser.

Rodigan That man's a genius isn't he?

Beres Not genius, genie in one! Genie him alone!

Rodigan The boy's lost weight too, he's been working out, early morning running and everything.

Beres Yeah, he's about half the size he was.

Rodigan You've brought your band in from Jamaica for tonight, do they always go with you on the road?

Beres Yeah, they always...but I've had a slight change, because the band that was here last year, it's not the same band. Last year it was Gumption, this time it's Fraction.

(Track played: Dance 4 Me [with Wyclef Jean])

Rodigan What a tune. I just heard on the grapevine from the VP crew that this will be a single in America and a single in the UK. The reason I say that because it's with Wyclef, and the big Sony deal, and sometimes the men in suits step in and mess it up.

Beres A true man, because them mess up the music all the while (laughs). But I think these are decent suit people.

Rodigan OK. The fusion. I know Wyclef's into reggae, I know he did "Fully Loaded", I know he used to have a sound system when he was a young student, and I know he's deeply into the music. So where was the fusion? How did it come about?

Beres First of all, Wyclef, he's a fan of mine. He's a fan, he's a friend. It was James (from VP Records), he was the one who said we wanted this person.

Rodigan So you viiced in New York, or you voiced in your place?

Beres No, I did my thing at my studio. God, I don't want to leave that place! But then for Wyclef now we did at the Hit Factory (New York).

Rodigan Who's on that guitar?

Beres Wyclef and Fernando (Rosario), Spanish bredren y'know.

Rodigan "Dance 4 Me". And that's dedicated to woman who go to a dance to dance!

Beres Yeah, just to dance because some people mis-interpret things. But there are people like that who just want to go out and just dance. Not looking for anything particular, just dan-ce!

Rodigan One of my favourite female vocalists over the years is Pam Hall. This unique, beautiful, wonderful voice, can't miss it...

Beres I thinks she's highly under- rated.

Rodigan I'll second that, absolutely true. And you recorded "African People", who wrote that?

Beres I wrote the song, but I thought Pam was a fitting voice for it.

(Track played: African People [with Pam Hall] )

Rodigan You did a concert for the Alpha Boy's School, and gave all the money to that famous school, where so many great musicians have come from - the Skatalites, particularly. We were listening to the flute there...

Beres That was one of the little kids. He's about 15 years old, so I can easily call him a kid, and he plays beautiful flute. So I decided, "hey! wan' go for that yout' there y'know, put 'im 'pon this thing", and, boy, he sound so beautiful.

Rodigan And the nuns are still delivering, the band leader, still the devout attention to detail, and rehearsal and practice and practice and practice.

Beres It's discipline. And needs a lot of help too.

Rodigan Well, thanks to you for giving the money from the concert.

Beres Well, it was actually VP. They were the ones actually who decided to do that. So it's really a pooled effort.

Rodigan Let's go now to some of your productions, and something we were playing last year. I said to Don Ricardo, "it's just so good". I know you released it on your own Harmony House label, and it's now out on your "Harmony House Verse One". We were saying earlier on that you built the studio thinking "this will make my life easier", instead you got people knocking on the door wanting to do a tune with you. You've got DJ's and singers all lining up to have a go. And here you are on harmonies I believe.

Beres Yes, I did that. Don and myself, and he's such a wonderful person to work with, easy, easy, easy. Him just flow y'know.

(Track played: Don Ricardo-Bet You Didn't Know)

Rodigan Not only is he a singer, a song- writer, and arranger, but he's also a record producer, and now he's channeling a lot of his energy into producing other people, other fine singers.

Beres Yeah, is pure underrated people me a work with, them have pure talent!

Rodigan Let's close with two love songs "Angel Eyes" and "Mary Mary", featuring you as the consoling figure. The observer for Mary, who's man is out playing the field, and you're just discreetly pointing that out to her.

Beres (laughs) You got the story down man!

Rodigan One dance could do? Her man's on the floor, while your neatly, discreetly, waiting on the sidelines. Beres, we love you, it's great to have you back in England. It's like a fine wine, your work just gets better and beter and better. If last year was a good year, then this year's a great year for you.

(Tracks played: "Angel Eyes" and "Mary Mary")