by Howard Campbell
SOUTH FLORIDA – When nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards are announced on November 20, it is widely expected that perennial nominees Third World will be in the running for Best Reggae Album, with More Work to be Done.
The album, produced by three-time Grammy winner Damian “Junior Gong” Marley, was released in August. It would be the band’s eighth nomination.
Stephen “Cat” Coore, the band’s guitarist and co-founder, is pleased with response to the 11-song set which has yielded three singles to date: YimMisGan, Loving You is Easy and Na Na Na.
Click below to watch video: Loving You is Easy
“We would be honored to be nominated again. Being nominated is like a victory and we would all be pleased,” he said.
Coore credits Marley for inspiring Third World’s most solid effort in years. According to him, “It’s a body of work that’s gonna last.”
Third World were first nominated in 1988 for Hold on To Love. That year, Peter Tosh won posthumously for No Nuclear War.
Interestingly, their previous nomination came in 2006 for Black Gold & Green. Marley won that year for Welcome to Jamrock.
More Work to be Done was released in a year when Third World enjoyed a renaissance. They toured Europe and Africa twice, and did shows throughout the United States, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Coore and bass player Richie Daley are survivors of the band’s classic line-up from the 1970s that had a series of hit songs and albums including Now That we Found Love and Journey to Addis.
Singer A. J. Brown, drummer Tony “Ruption” Williams, keyboardists Norris Webb and Maurice Gregory are the other members of Third World.
The band was formed in 1973 by Coore and keyboardist Ibo Cooper, both former members of Inner Circle. Cooper, considered the band’s spiritual leader, left in 1996.
Rapture, the popular EP from Koffee, is potential frontrunner for the 2020 Best Reggae Album category. Its lead song Toast was a hit in the U.S. and United Kingdom.
