“Wake Up Everybody” climbed to the top of Billboard’s R&B chart and secured the 12th position on the Hot 100 chart and stands as one of Teddy Pendergrass’s last contributions before embarking on a solo career that would soon set remarkable records.
In 2010 John Legend and The Roots did “Wake Up,” a remix of the song as the lead single for their joint album with vocals from Melanie Fiona and a guest verse from Common.
With the song’s strong legacy, Shadracq, real name Ainsworth Prendagast releases the Phil Watkis produced music video today (August 30).
The former Xterminator record label (Sizzla, Luciano) artist told WMV that, “I chose this cover version because it has a message and I understand the message, so I has a reggae artist want to refresh the song to the people’s mind in a reggae vibe. it’s time for us to wake up and get involved with our kids, our family and do the best we can for the future.”
“The soul of R&B roots is also the same as reggae because they take into consideration the hearts of the people, then the beats comes between. But the lyrics are the same as well I could use the lyrics of reggae and sing to R&B beats and you would say well done. So it’s how you want the song to be made,” he continued.
The sentiments Shadracq expressed about reggae and R&B, Ghanian dancehall artist Stoneybwoy says the same is true for Afrobeats and he is on a mission to bridge the gaps between genres. Charlamagne Tha God during a Breakfast Club interview said there are many people in the U.S. who are thinking Afrobeats (and even dancehall) is going to be the biggest black genre across the world, even surpassing Hip Hop.
Stonebwoy answered by saying, “When you break down any typical Afrobeats song you can put every other music of black origin on there. If you strip any Afrobeats song as a producer you can find dancehall in there, that’s how come everybody is gravitating to it, I believe so because everybody can find themselves in there knowingly or unknowingly. It has several branches and big tree.”
Over the years several reggae artist have done successful R&B covers as highlighted by music producer Michael Gold Wasser of recently.
Reggae band Third World’s rendition of “Now That We Found Love” is sited by Goldwasser as the best cover song by a reggae artist in RollingStone Magazine article published May 16, 2023. Covers are reinterpretations of existing songs not to be confused with the altering an existing song which is called a sample.
Originally written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the song first appeared on their Ships Ahoy album and five years later the reggae-disco hit by Third World (1978) was released by Island Records and peaked at number 10 on the U.K. singles chart.
“It didn’t even occur to me that it was a cover — it was just a massive Third World song” Goldwasser further explains.
Founding member of Third World, Cat Coore told WMV in an exclusive interview in 2018 how the group started after he was once part of Inner Circle.
“In 1973 I broke away from Inner Circle along with two other members and then joined by Ibo Cooper to form Third World. Ibo was the band leader of Inner Circle so he became the leader of Third World,” he explained.
He recalled how the group snagged a record deal with Island which propelled them into global acts, “Chris Blackwell eventually signed us in 75’ and we released the Just Third World album. In 1777, we did the 96 Degrees In The Shade album, and that propelled us. Then in 1978 we did Now That We Found Love and that song went up the charts and we became big stars.”
In Michael’s list of Reggae – R&B covers he mentions Jamaican soul singer Barry Biggs for his cover of Kashief Lindo and King’s “Love Come Down.”
Watch Shadracq’s “Wake Up Everybody” above.
