With the remarkable success of Millie Small, Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Dekker in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, their Jamaican compatriots had big shoes to fill as a new decade dawned. John Holt stepped up to the plate in 1973 with ‘1,000 Volts of Holt’, an album of covers that became a big hit in the UK.

One of its songs was ‘I’d Love You to Want Me’, originally done by American singer Lobo the previous year. Holt’s reggae version was well-received in the UK but it would be 50 years before Tony Roy first heard it.

The Jamaican singer, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, was on vacation in Nevada three years ago when he discovered the easy-listening track. He was instantly hooked and determined to record a version.

That he did late last year, co-producing his take with Wayne Holness, who also played bass guitar and keyboards. Roy’s version of ‘I’d Love You to Want Me’ spent multiple weeks at number one on the South Florida Reggae Chart and Foundation Radio Network Chart, which covers New York City. Both are compiled by respected Jamaican broadcaster Clinton Lindsay.

“The success of ‘I’d Love You to Want Me’ means a lot to me, to see it touching so many hearts and reaching lots of places. For my career, the sky is the limit and putting out quality music and reaching all nations is my belief,” said Roy.

It was not until he covered Holt’s version that Roy heard the original, which peaked at number two in the United States in 1972. Interestingly, Lobo’s song had a similar blue-eyed soul flavour to Bread’s ‘Baby I’m A Want You’ which Holt also covered for ‘1,000 Volts of Holt’.

Tony Roy, who is from St. Thomas parish in eastern Jamaica, was determined to do both songs justice. In addition to Holness, drummer/percussionist Joslyn McKenzie, guitarist Ragmar “GSharp” Rochester, saxophonist Walter Tates Jr and Maria Smith on background vocals worked on ‘I’d Love You to Want Me’, which is his biggest song since he began recording music over 30 years ago.

‘I’d Love You to Want Me’ is the lead song from ‘On my Mind’, Tony Roy’s EP which came out in April on his Whylas Records. He plans to release a follow-up soon.

(Photo contributed)