Reggae remix for Jacksons' 'ABC'

Published: Sunday | August 16, 2009


Universal Motown Records has gathered some of urban music's biggest names to produce Michael Jackson: The Remix Suite, a 20-odd song tribute to the superstar who died in June from cardiac arrest.

Salaam Remi, Dallas Austin and the Neptunes were contacted by Universal Motown president Sylvia Rhone to produce remixes of mainly Jackson 5 songs, which were done in the early 1970s while Jackson and his brothers were signed to Motown Records.

According to MTV News, one of the cuts already gaining attention is Remi's reggae version of ABC.

"That song was one of the first songs I remember hearing on my own," Remi told MTV News. "I think it came out around the time I was coming up as a kid. A remix ... it isn't just changing the music ... to me it's about re-imagining the vibe. I wanted to do something that, when it pops up it makes you say, 'Wow'."

No release date for the album has been announced.

Rhone was president of Elektra Records in the 1990s when several reggae acts, including Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, were signed to that label.

- Howard Campbell