by Howard Campbell
[SOUTH FLORIDA] – For most of the last 30 years, Pablo Brown worked in the New York public transport system, and concentrated on taking care of his family. But after retiring six years ago and moving to Florida, he decided to give the music career he gave up in the 1980s, another shot.
He began recording music three years ago, releasing the song “Tuffa Than Stone“. Last November, Brown released “Sweet Reggae Music“.
On “Sweet Reggae Music”, he is accompanied by The Firehouse Crew, a band whose career started in the community of Waterhouse when Brown was preparing to migrate to the United States.
“We had di songs so wi jus’ get the musicians together an’ do our thing. It was a great vibe in the studio an’ I think you can hear that on the songs,” said Brown.
Based in Claremont, Brown travelled to Jamaica for the recording sessions with The Firehouse Crew, best known for their work with Luciano and Sizzla. He hails from Waterhouse, a tough community in Kingston that has produced noted acts like Black Uhuru, The Wailing Souls and Junior Reid.
In the early 1970s, Brown was linked to aspiring artists in Waterhouse including singers Don Carlos and Gold. As a trio, they recorded the song Prophecy for legendary engineer Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock.
After that group folded, he became part of a duo named Rockstone that did a series of songs for a British producer named Michael Palmer. When the master tapes for those songs were stolen from his singing partner’s Waterhouse home, Brown became disillusioned, left the music business and migrated to the US.
“I jus’ couldn’t deal with it no more,” he said.
Busy Body and Hall of Fame (with PsychNaut) are other songs Pablo Brown has released since his comeback.
