Pop Reggae

Pop reggae is a light, commercial form of Reggae designed to crossover and break through to a more mainstream Pop audience. The style builds on the general template developed from the Ska, Rocksteady and reggae lineage, whilst accentuating the more melodic aspects and adding influences from Soul (and later, Contemporary R&B). Pop reggae recordings use a slick production style and often feature lush string arrangements and catchy piano parts. Jimmy Cliff and Johnny Nash were early pioneers of pop reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This, along with the poppier Bob Marley tracks, such as "Jamming", "Three Little Birds" and "One Love" from Exodus, were the inspiration for several white pop artists to perform their own take on reggae music in the 1980s and beyond, including UB40's "Red Red Wine", Blondie's "The Tide is High", Men at Work's "Down Under" and The Police's "Walking on the Moon", as well as success from Jamaican-origin acts such as Inner Circle and the UK-based Musical Youth. All this followed a revival of ska with the late 1970s UK 2 Tone movement helping to bring Jamaican Music to a much wider audience. The early 1990s saw the emergence of several European acts performing their take on pop reggae, often adding elements of the then-current Eurodance scene. This was sometimes termed 'euro reggae' with the most notable example being Ace of Base. The pop reggae formula proved as fruitful as ever in the 21st century with the huge success of singers such as Shaggy and Sean Kingston.