Beres Hammond

Over the course of a 30-year career, Beres has poured his smoky-sweet
voice—an instrument of subtlety and power reminiscent of an Otis
Redding or a Teddy Pendergrass—over every kind of riddim track,
from the funked-up reggae jams of the ’70s fusion band Zap Pow
to the lush instrumentation of his 1976 album Soul Reggae to the spare
digital beat of his 1985 dancehall breakthrough <em>“What One
Dance Can Do.”</em> In 1990, his album A Love Affair for Donovan
Germaine’s Penthouse label raised his popularity to new heights.
Cuts like <em>“Tempted To Touch”</em> and <em>“Who
Say”</em> with Buju Banton are still as effective in the dancehall
today as they were as pre-releases. The ’90s proved to be Hammond’s
decade, during which he blazed a trail of modern classics for a variety
of producers, from the strugglers’ anthem <em>“Putting Up
Resistance”</em> (Tappa) to lovers’ laments like <em>“Come
Back Home”</em> (Star Trail) and <em>“Double Trouble”</em>
(Steely & Clevie).