A brand new album from Fredddie McGregor is sort of a breath of recent air, and it’s no coincidence that that’s the title of the 13-track undertaking which is ready to be launched early subsequent 12 months. And, main as much as the discharge, McGregor shall be on a progressive excessive. The esteemed Captain of the Huge Ship — as his report label is called — will shut out the 12 months 2022 on tour with UB40.
The I’m Longing to See You singer and the British reggae band “go a great distance” way back to 1986 when McGregor was signed to Polydor Information, and UB40’s video crew did the music movies for So I’ll Wait For You, That Woman/Groovy Scenario and Come to Me. And, as if to commemorate that journey, they are going to be presenting followers with a December to recollect. McGregor is one among two particular friends on UB40’s United Kingdom and Northern Eire tour, and the band is shouting their pleasure on social media.
“We’re very excited to have the Captain, Freddie McGregor, becoming a member of us on our enviornment tour dates this December! Tickets are working low for all reveals, so seize yours when you can!” UB40 posted just a few days in the past.
The band, which shaped in 1978, is formally kicking off its forty fifth anniversary with the December dates, which is able to see them, together with McGregor and the opposite particular visitor, Don Letts, performing in locations corresponding to Nottingham, Norwich, Stoke-on-Trent, Liverpool, Belfast, Castlebar, Birmingham, Leeds and London. The ultimate live performance is scheduled for December 21 at Ovo Area in Wembley.
For McGregor, “the whole lot is occurring on the proper time”, and he mirrored on occasions spent with the band. He shared that, 11 years in the past, UB40 flew him to Birmingham for a studio session, and so they have been connecting ever since. “As I can keep in mind, it was on September 11 … that was the day that I arrived in Birmingham. Then, simply earlier than corona, we did an enormous live performance in California, and final 12 months we did an important interview on their YouTube channel,” McGregor advised The Sunday Gleaner.
He added, “I’m actually grateful to be going out with UB40 … my group and I are actually excited, these are nice enviornment dates, and we’re wanting ahead to doing them. The primary present is on December 2 in Nottingham, Rock Metropolis, which is a flagship venue within the UK for wonderful dwell music.”
NEW ALBUM
McGregor, a toddler star whose profession began when he was solely seven years outdated, is a pioneer in ska, rock regular and reggae and a stalwart inside the music business. The elder statesman has launched greater than 40 albums throughout his stellar profession and has acquired quite a few accolades, together with the Finest Reggae Album nomination on the forty fifth Grammy Awards for Something For You; the Institute of Caribbean Research 2013 Marcus Garvey Lifetime Achievement Award; the celebrated Silver Musgrave Award from the Institute of Jamaica; and the 2020 Black Historical past Month meets Reggae Icon Award.
Exploring themes of unity, peace, love, survival, and perseverance on the soon-to-be-released A Breath of Contemporary Air album, produced by the UK-based Sting Ray Information, “The album is prepared,” an elated McGregor mentioned of the undertaking which has been two years within the making. Of the title, he mentioned that whereas listening to the tracks, he instructed that it “gave the impression of a breath of recent air”, and everybody agreed. Shifting ahead, that turned the working title of the album, which follows his 2017 providing Extra Love within the Ghetto.
The singer, songwriter and producer additionally shared a snippet of different initiatives within the works.
“We now have a brand new Afrobeats single coming with me and a sista from Gambia and an artiste from Ghana. It’s a stunning collab known as Walla Walla Weng. The video is being labored on as we communicate, and plans are in place to tour Ghana, Gambia, and Kenya in March, and Europe and the UK for many of the subsequent summer season. Issues are wanting up,” he mentioned.
Final December, it was introduced that McGregor had signed a worldwide publishing take care of the American firm Warner Chappell Music. The deal covers the complete catalogue of his near six-decade profession.
Man Moot, co-chair and CEO of Warner Chappell Music, mentioned on the time, “Freddie is called the Captain of the Huge Ship and with good cause. He’s been a pioneer in reggae for many years, writing songs which have moved followers around the globe, and is well-known for being beneficiant along with his time and efforts for youthful up-and-coming artistes. We’re delighted that he’s signed with us and might’t wait to get to work on his unbelievable catalogue and new music.”
McGregor, whose son Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor can also be signed to Warner Chappell Music, mentioned, “with a brand new album within the works and the dwell scene popping out of hibernation, it looks like the precise time to begin writing a brand new chapter in my profession. I need to join with different writers and producers from around the globe to maintain inspiring me to make music that strikes individuals”.
