Recording Love You Higher took Benjy Myaz a year. And actually getting around to releasing it took another year. Then another year passed before it was released on his debut album, Intimate Relationship.

Still, that three-year period, from recording in 1994 to including the Randy Crawford remake on the musician turned vocalist's (but still very much the musician) first full-length album in 1997, falls short of the time Myaz was singing Love You Higher on the north coast circuit.

He had been delivering the song on the cabaret circuit since 1986. And to say that he put the song down on tape is not quite accurate. It did get to tape eventually (Tony Holness played Love You Higher from cassette when it was first played on the radio), but Myaz recorded the song the digital way at 93 East Studio in downtown Kingston.

"It was done at the only digital studio in Jamaica at the time," Myaz said, crediting Trevor Bailey for getting him into digital recording.

He took his time recording and releasing Love You Higher as "it was my first piece (as a vocalist) coming out. It was important to get all the elements together". Those included jazz, R&B and roots reggae "as well as listening to the voice over and over again to make sure".

"It was important to get it right," Myaz emphasised to The Sunday Gleaner.

He had long had the arrangement pat when he started recording, but called in Paul Kastick to programme the drums just right (Myaz points out that there is a 'Bob Marley style' at the beginning), Andrew Simpson played rhythm and R&B-style guitars, while he played bass guitar and keyboards, with additional keyboards by Christopher Birch. Junior Jazz did the backing vocals.

The mixing was done with Lynford 'Fatta' Marshall at Mixing Lab, where the saxophone was done by Howard Messam. Then came the next year before Myaz finally released Love You Higher.

"It was mixed and in my vehicle for about a year. I was still playing bass, travelling with Jimmy Cliff," Myaz said. And there was something else. "I was learning the song as well, how to sing it on the real reggae rock, not the north coast," Myaz said.

hit on his hands

It was generation next which made him realise that he had a hit on his hands, as his daughter started picking up on the chorus.

After Tony Holness debuted Love You Higher on radio from a cassette, Myaz did a 'test press' of the song, cutting six records and sending them out without labels. When Donovan Dacres played the song in a Mystery Voice feature on JBC Radio One, nobody could guess who the singer was.

Love You Higher, released on Valentine's Day, 1996, properly labelled and all, quickly made an impact and has gone on to be an enduring love song in the annals of Jamaican music. It did not hit the upper echelons of the charts, though, Myaz saying that it moved in stages from number 40 to just under the top 10.

And was stopped by payola - or the lack thereof.

"I did not get involved because I did not have the resources or the intention to take my career like that," Myaz told The Sunday Gleaner, adding that he does not believe he should spend money to produce a good quality song and then pay more to have it played on radio.

chasing the creativity

And he pointed that "I have never been one to watch the charts that way", explaining that for him, music was not just about what was popular. A slogan on his website states "chasing the creativity, not the competition".

Myaz said he was "very fortunate and happy" to not only meet Randy Crawford, but to also perform with her in 2002 at Jamaica House, where "I did my second verse and she did her first verse". While that performance was "intimate", the 2000 Reggae Sumfest International Night performance was "wow!"

"People kept stopping the song, kept pulling up," Myaz said. And a scrapbook shot on his website shows a newspaper clipping of Myaz, hand in the air, under the headline 'Sumfest 2000 ends on high note'.

"And that song is still getting forward," Myaz said.