ORLANDO – Pioneers of reggae gospel, The Grace Thrillers endeared themselves to Christians and secular music fans during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their willingness to spread the Word using reggae rhythms impressed young Jamaicans like Canute Neil Ellis, an engineer/producer who recently sampled one of the group’s hit songs.
Rescue Me is the name of the song Ellis produced. It samples He Saw my Need, a 1995 song by the ‘Thrillers’ that was played in gospel and secular circles.
Ellis, his wife Samantha Gooden and deejay Yomek Radic are featured on Rescue Me with The Grace Thrillers hook wafting in the background.
The Orlando-based Ellis told South Florida Caribbean News that last year he played a rough cut of the song while driving to the hospital to visit his wife. His infant daughter loved it so much, he decided to complete the song.
Canute Neil Ellis
“My daughter started excitedly singing to the track. When it was finished she asked me to play it one more time. And seeing the joy on her face, gave me the inspiration to complete the track. It was meant to be my swan song that pays homage to the Thrillers and the culture. Instead, it became the first song of its kind to sample an amazing Caribbean gospel group while showcasing our phenomenal talent like Yomek Radic,” Ellis explained.
From St. Mary parish in eastern Jamaica, Ellis got into the music business as a trainee engineer at the Kingston recording studio of Noel Willis, founder of The Grace Thrillers. While there, he not only learned the rudiments of music production, his appreciation grew for the quintet which broke into the dancehall in 1995 with the song, Can’t Even Walk.
Since migrating to the United States, Ellis attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has also worked as an engineer with Beres Hammond, Kirk Franklin, The Commodores and Israel Vibration.
