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Mikey Spice VibeZ

A Jamaican singer who plays guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, piano, saxophone, flute and harp, and whose greatest gift is still his voice. Eighteen tracks of Mikey Spice.

The most musical man in reggae

Michael Theophilus Johnson — Mikey Spice — was born in Kingston in 1965 and began singing in his father's church at seven. By adulthood he was proficient on an extraordinary range of instruments: guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, piano, saxophone, flute and harp. He turned professional in 1985 and has worked steadily since across VP, Jet Star and RAS Records.

His territory is the meeting point of conscious roots reggae and lovers rock, with a strong streak of American soul running through it. That combination is not unusual in Jamaican music, but few singers have handled both ends as convincingly. Spice can deliver a Rasta devotional and a bedroom ballad on the same album without either sounding like a sideline.

He has worked with Tony Rebel, Marcia Griffiths, Luciano and Frankie Paul, and is particularly admired for his interpretations of American soul material.

What to listen for

The covers are the entry point, and they are a genuine specialty. "For the Love of You" is the Isley Brothers, and Spice's version is one of the finest reggae readings of an American soul song anyone has recorded. "I Am I Said" is Neil Diamond, which should not work and does.

"Am I Losing You" and "Gonna Fall In Love Again" are the lovers rock core — smooth, unhurried, and sung with a lightness that never tips into blandness.

The conscious material carries the other half. "Taste & See," "Jah Love Lifted Me" and "Better Tomorrow" come out of the church background directly.

"Grab Yu Lass" with Louie Culture and "Yes Mi Friend" bring the dancehall energy. "Dance With My Mother" is the one that will get you.

Go deeper

Happiness (1995) and So Much Things To Say (1996) are the albums from his strongest period; I Am I Said (2014) is the later one.

For the lovers rock tradition he works in: Beres Hammond is the giant and the essential listen, Sanchez the other great interpreter of soul material, and Gregory Isaacs the originator of the whole smooth-voiced approach.

And for reggae covers of American soul as a genre unto itself — it is one of the most rewarding corners of Jamaican music, and the Studio One and Treasure Isle catalogues are full of them.

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