Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Moore: I need to pay back my Jamaican people for what they have done for me. - Contributed

"People want Roger Moore back, I'm not turning back" proclaims long-lost reggae crooner Oriel Johnson, aka Roger Moore. After being away from the reggae scene for 10 years, Moore is planning a huge comeback.

Despite his absence, Moore still remains in the minds of many, with reggae hits with producer Top Rankin such as Dub to Dub and One Day Lovin'. In 1990, his song Dub to Dub steadily climbed the reggae chart on RJR, where it went to number eight, and number two on the British chart. As Moore describes, Dub to Dub used to play on every sound system. In 1992, the name Roger Moore was registered and certified with the Performing Rights Society (PRS).

Life on tour drew Moore away from his reggae fans as he got caught up with life away from music. He has family in Canada where he currently lives, and found it hard to fulfil dual duties as singer and father. Moore admits that the move to Canada was not the best for his music, as persons from Jamaica were not hearing much from him. He says, "I performed a lot over there, people here are not hearing me. Everybody knows stuff coming out of America, but no one listens to what's coming from Canada."

The hard-core reggae act plans to change that with the release of an upcoming album, music video and his own show. "My fans haven't gotten to know me, cause I've been away". He is also planning to put on a reggae show in Toronto with Diamond promotions. Moore elaborates that if the show is successful he will move it to Jamaica to be held each year.

He says "Jamaican people need to see a lot of me, like they did before. I need to pay back my Jamaican people for what they have done for me. Everyone is going back to Jamaica to get their music together. I don't want to run away from my work and culture."

Moore is set to release the album Return of Roger Moore, which is a compilation of remixes of his old hits, as well as new songs such as Man Prerogative, Move Funny and Starting All Over produced by the Mighty Diamonds, Livity and Hard Core respectively. All three songs are getting fair airplay on Roots FM, Irie FM and Hot 102. Moore has just completed his soon to be released video for the song Starting All Over.

He says his fans can expect him to stick to roots and culture and look out for great things.