Redrose hit the charts with Tempo on King Tubbys' Firehouse label, Under Me Fat Ting following a year later. Bangarang also made an impact and Redrose says "me have a series of number one whe me get out of Tubbys".

He also got something else - production skills. Redrose says he and Tubbys became so close that he was known as 'Tubbys' son', learning the ropes of production ("me know how a tom tom would sound thereso, or which reverb to use.") as well as forging the links that are critical to a music career.

King Tubbys was killed outside his home in Duhaney Park in 1989, after returning from a recording session at his Waterhouse studio.

Redrose has continued with production and proudly tells The Sunday Gleaner that he has built up a catalogue of his own. That does not mean, though, that he has stopped working for other producers and is happy with a clutch of singles that he has come out with recently.

For Sly and Robbie's Taxi label, Redrose has Under Mi Skin on the Merry Go Round rhythm. Another single is She Nicer Than A AK - and that 'she' is not necessarily a man's significant other.

"You can't put gun over your mother. An how some man talk bout gun is like them love it and is only a piece of metal," Redrose told The Sunday Gleaner. "You can't mek a life-giver go down over a life-taker."

latest single

Cities Don't Sleep, recorded for Computer Paul, speaks to those who do wrong under the cover of darkness and believe that no one sees. However, Redrose points out that it is not only God who is watching, but also "somebody sees you".

The latest single is Make A Change, a love song which asks all to simply make the world a better place.

"The business really need songs that make sense. That's why songs nah sell so much. No one nah really penetrate de business like one time. Is a fas' ting," said Redrose.

So what he is doing is "record songs to open up the youths' eyes".

- Mel Cooke