Beres Hammond
b. Beresford Hammond, 1955, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Winning a string of awards for Best Male Vocalist throughout the early '90s meant that success had come late to Beres Hammond. He was still in his teens when he joined Zap Pow in 1975, after singing on local amateur shows. He'd met guitarist and producer Willie Lindo even before that, and by the time Hammond had left the group in 1980 Lindo had produced his debut album, SOUL REGGAE, and was already working on JUST A MAN which followed in 1981. It was to prove a harmonious partnership; although LET'S MAKE A SONG had been self-produced, Lindo was back in the chair for COMING AT YOU in 1983. With his smoky, soulful vocals, Beres was accruing a reputation as a master stylist, and his choice of material reflected this, often bearing a distinctly R&B flavour. All that changed with his fifth album, BERES HAMMOND. Groovy Little Thing, One Dance Will Do (which sparked off a saga of answer versions) and She Loves Me Now all became best-selling singles which established his name on the dancehall market. 
It wasn't until he was coerced into recording for Donovan Germain's Penthouse label in 1990 that he experienced similar success again. A major label deal with Cooltempo had failed in presenting his talents to a wider audience and despite a high profile duet with Maxi Priest for How Can We Ease The Pain in 1988, he had seemingly lost direction. Germain voiced him over popular dancehall rhythms and Tempted To Touch proved to be a runaway hit, resulting in the release of A LOVE AFFAIR in 1992. By then Beres was in demand, and a wealth of material ensued from producers such as Willie Lindo, Richard Bell from Star Trail, Steely & Clevie and Fatis Burrell, who was based at Music Works, adjoining the Penthouse studio. The hits flowed thick and fast, often in the shape of collaborations with artists like Marcia Griffiths, Buju Banton, Cobra, Cutty Ranks, Reggie Stepper and Tony Rebel. In 1992 Sly Dunbar remixed earlier tracks Hammond had voiced for Tapper Zukie and Putting Up Resistance won a JAMI award for the year's Best Song. The following year Fatis built on the existence of a growing number of great tracks for his Exterminator label and issued the FULL ATTENTION album, which showcased Beres in unstoppable form over a selection of weighty rhythms. The result highlighted his abilities not only as a magnificent singer of ballads, reality and dancehall material, but also revealed him to be a writer of genuine merit. After recording further hits for New York producers Sting and Robert Livingston he signed for Elektra in the autumn of 1993.