Wright
The brief performance he gave recently at The Gleaner says it all. He's a musical genius who should have conquered the world. Because, with his eclectic brand of music, charisma, swagger and endearing je ne sais quoi, the world should have been at his feet. Abdel Wright was born to be a star!
His rain-quenching-parched-earth voice, his soulful cadence, his dexterity with the guitar, and the funky acoustic that comes from it will force you to ask the question, "Why is this man, who is dripping with talent, not an international phenom, tearing down walls and building bridges with what he prefers to call 'the truth', the message in his music?
Yet, Abdel has already tasted stardom, even for a brief while. His star shone brightly and guess who were in the glare of it? Bono from U2, Nelson Mandela, Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, Johnny Cash, Oprah Winfrey and P.J. Patterson adored him. He met them all and bowled them over with a magnetic voice that you find only one in a million, and they and a legion of fans were looking to see and hear much more of him.
However, as fate would have it, stardom was interrupted, and as is always the case, those who kneeled before Abdel in adoration when the going was good, quickly disappeared when his world came tumbling down. And Abdel Wright's world did crumble, many times in the 33 years he's been on Earth.
Let's rewind to the mid-1990s when the talented youth, who had no family to call his own, was 'kicked out' of the SOS Children's Village in Stony Hill, St Andrew.
Homeless and destitute, he turned to crime, stealing to provide food for himself. In 1996, he was convicted for illegal possession of firearm and robbery with aggravation. He spent five of the eight years to which he was sentenced in prison.
Prison life wasn't all about biding his time and eating air pie. The unheralded prodigy spent his time writing songs and composing music for them in his head. He was also involved in performing and teaching music. Even when he was at the half-way house, a hostel for those who are soon to be released, he was given time-out to go teach music in a work-release programme.
In 2001, he left the walls of incarceration behind and vowed not to return. With no home to go to, he ventured back into society with only his dreams, music and his lyrics. Holding on to hope, it was a lean time for him as he navigated through rough waters trying to find a calm sea.
Abdel: "It did rough dem time deh. A lot of studios mi go to. Dem say mi sound too white. Anything exotic and different it has to be white. And I think it is a very low way of looking at creativity coming from black people. Dem compare me with Sting and dem people deh. Mi even open fi Sting and The Police."
There he was, a black man with a different voice and style, attempting to put his life on track, but he was a virtual persona non gratia on the Jamaican musical landscape.
Yet, undaunted by the rebuffs, he pressed on. He was not going to be forced to be contained in a box, to be another run-of-the-mill reggae singer.
Abdel: "Nutten nah gwaan, Mi go to every producer yuh can think bout, from Sly and Robbie, Mikey Bennett. All a dem, nobody never come out wid nutten. My try wid this producer, Steven Ventura ... Him never deal wid nutten fi mi, but him introduce me to (music producer) Brian Jobson (No Doubt), and Brian Jobson love mi stuff."
Up to this point, he was on his face, as we say in Jamaican parlance. He had his last bus fare, was in Steely and Clevie's house, with no sanitary facilities and no appliances, nothing, just an empty house. He slept on the floor.
There, he dreamed of being produced by the duo. Sony Music too was interested in him, "but they wanted mi publishing (rights), and because mi did knowledgeable bout the music industry a'ready, and the (business) aspect of it, mi refuse (the offer)".
Jobson told Dave Stewart about Abdel. A CD demo and pictures were sent to Stewart, who agreed to executive produce Abdel's debut album. Bono and Interscope's Jimmy Iovine soon came into the picture. They were mesmerised by the profundity and earthy sound of his music.
Abdel: "Within two weeks they give mi mi contract. I was signed here. Mi get the money sent to mi account, and paper sign yah so before mi even travel."
His first taste of the big times came when he performed Long Walk to Freedom, alongside Bono, U2 guitarist The Edge, and Dave Stewart, at a 2003 South African AIDS benefit concert hosted by Nelson Mandela, at Bono's and Stewart's request.
At the show, he was a nervous wreck in front of about 40,000 people, but he delivered. Bono was ecstatic, for Abdel had 'buss out'.
Debut album
In January 2005, he performed at Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, and seven months after, Abdel Wright, his self-titled debut album, was released on Dave Stewart's Weapons of Mass Entertainment imprint, to be distributed by Interscope Records. Music lovers and critics were generous in their praises of and excitement over the album which was released in the United States, Canada and Japan, in that order.
AnneB, in a contributed article on the online site, World Music Central, on Monday, January 16, 2006, said of Abdel's album, "I cannot think of another Jamaican artiste since Jimmy Cliff whose writing has really made me stop, listen and really think about the world we live in. This is not a CD for those who are fans of traditional reggae or the new hip-hop gangster type of Jamaican music, but it is well worth a listen. You may find you'll fall in love with it as I have."
On BlogCritic, September 2005, Chris Beaumont claimed, "This is the kind of album you could throw on on a quiet Sunday evening. You can sit back, get some great laidback music that has some brains to it and relax. Bottom line. What we have here is an interesting new voice on the singer/songwriter circuit. Thoughtful lyrics, good music, and a new star on the rise. This is definitely worth giving some time to."
The song, Quicksand, and its video got much attention, and Abdel was now on his way to greatness. But, he stepped on to 'quicksand' and sank right back into prison. Just a few months after the album was released, he was arrested again for illegal possession of firearm, and was imprisoned. It's now 10 months since he came from 'government exile', and he's back to where he was in 2003, hoping for another break.
To learn more about this mystical man, his music, his not-so-flattering advent into this world and the journeys of his life, next week, read part two of the amazing story of this self-taught guitarist, recorder player, pianist, flautist, music teacher, singer/songwriter, rebel, political nonconformist, religious dreadlocked 'child of Africa', who doesn't even call himself Rasta. And where is his father in all of this?
paul.williams@gleanerjm.com
Singer Abdel Wright entertains children at the annual Rose Hall Development Company-sponsored SOS Children's Village Summer Football Camp, at the Wyndham Rose Hall Sports Club, in Montego Bay.