The two musical legends are set to make magic after working on their dream collaboration for over five years.
The R&B legend is in Jamaica and met up with Reggae legend Beres Hammond at Harmony House studio in St Andrew on Monday night, where they recorded their long-planned collaboration.
The person behind the successful collaboration is Shawn ‘Cigar’ Baptiste, who said the collaboration has been years in the works.
“We’ve been working on this for five years. I’m a local promoter in the Virgin Islands and me and Beres are very cool, from way back when from before Beres became Beres,” Baptiste was quoted saying to the Jamaica Gleaner.
Baptiste explains that Charlie Wilson is like a father figure to him, and Beres Hammond, a living reggae legend, pushes him to convince them to record a song together and send it into the universe.
Charlie Wilson is no stranger to Jamaicans, having performed at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in 2015.
He recently completed his Culture Tour in the United States on Sunday before traveling directly to Jamaica to record with Beres.
Wilson remains one of the most successful R&B atistes in the world. He co-founded the mega-successful Gap Band with his brothers in 1979, and they went on to secure 13 Grammy nominations and a slew of other awards, including Billboard’s Top Adult Male R&B Artiste.
He spoke about the collaboration with Beres being something he has always wanted to do from his regular R&B music.
Meanwhile, the collaboration will be part of a live production featuring A-list musicians like Robbie Lyn, Carol McLaughlin, Danny Bassie, Kirk Bennett, and Khan ‘Mitchum’ Chin.
“I love reggae music,” Wilson said. “When I wanted to do it, I couldn’t find anybody who was big enough and powerful enough to do what I wanted to do.”
Wilson shared that at the time he was in his 20s and even though he knew Bob Marley and a few other big names then, he was on a totally different path.
“Things are coming together now and I am now happy that it is with Beres. He is like the greatest,” Charlie Wilson added.
Beres Hammond, who is also busy with his Love and Harmony Cruise tour, said he accepted the compliment and reflected it on the singer.
“I’ve been listening to you from all those years … way back … and that voice, that voice can’t change. You are superior to me, with that big voice of yours,” he told Wilson.
He added, “This gentleman and I, we always wanted to do something together. So this is it now.”
On the other hand, Wilson teased a bit about the collab, saying it’s a mixture of R&B and reggae music.
