All Interviews

Who is Wayne Wonder?

Laura Gardner: Who were some of your musical inspirations?

Wayne Wonder: Well my musical inspiration varies. Originally I was brought up in the church, so gospel was a must for me. Then I used to live in Rae Town where oldies music played every Sunday and Wednesday night and even when I closed my door I still heard it. So I was always around music. But one-on-one, blow-for-blow, pound-for-pound, I used to listen to a lot of Mahalia Jackson. I listened to Linval Thompson–reggae. I listened to Beres [Hammond] coming up, Bob Marley, the Wailers, Cocoa Tea. My inspiration varies because everybody plays a big part. If you interview an artist and they say nobody inspired them, it’s all lies! [laughs].

LG: You and Buju Banton used to be incredibly tight and then he was signed to Mercury Records. You guys are on tour together now so you must have repaired that damage.

WW: The business is sticky. It’s a funny business. Mercury signed Buju Banton. Mercury didn’t sign Buju Banton AND Wayne Wonder. So you know that Wayne Wonder was still out there, so I have to go get mine, seen? [laughs]. Where the brotherly love and friendship is, there wasn’t as big a change in that. The clouds were surrounding the music and the company. If the company didn’t say, "Do a song with Buju," nothing had been done. When me and Dave Kelly and Buju Banton used to hook up in the studio, it was just non-stop creativity and music, then when the company stepped in, I thought they were dictating too much. They had to dictate whether Wayne Wonder was going to do one or two songs on this next Buju album, so it broke the whole momentum and the whole creative flow, you know? But I guess that’s just the business.

LG: But it’s back on track.

WW: Yeah! Well, you know Wayne Wonder and Buju Banton have a chemistry no matter what, even if you don’t hear we from five years. And everything happens for a purpose because if Wayne Wonder didn’t go out there and bring Baby Cham to school, there wouldn’t be a Baby Cham or there wouldn’t be an Alley Cat. So you have to look and think on a really optimistic level. I’m a very optimistic person so I don’t really look at the situation and say, "Why? Why did Buju done break up?" I don’t look at it like that because even Buju said the other day, "Bwai, things haffi happen because if it wasn’t for the way things have gone (you went your way and me go my way), Baby Cham wouldn’t borne." Things do happen but it’s just music.

LG: What has been the best part of the tour so far?

WW: The chemistry on the tour is there. It’s so easy to fit in, so I enjoy every moment of the tour.

LG: I know some artists find it tiring at points…

WW: It’s a mind thing. When I look at the tour schedule, I worry about it! [laughs]. Sometimes I don’t even know what the day is, like I’ll know today’s Sunday, but I won’t know the date. But when the tour boils down, you start counting: I’ve got a week, I’ve got 2 weeks, no! But when you forget, you just have to go.

LG: How would you characterize your sound to someone who has never heard you?

WW: Wayne Wonder has a unique sound. If you listen to everyone that sings vocals in the Reggae business right now, you can tell who’s singing. You know Beres’ voice, you know Wayne Wonder’s voice, you know Cocoa Tea’s voice, you know Sanchez’ voice, you know Michael Rose’s voice.

When I came into this business, I always had creativeness on my mind. When I first went into the studio, I had come up with hundreds of original songs, but at that time, there was a different trend. Everyone was covering, covering, covering. It was the only way to break into the business at that time. When you had an original song, the engineers didn’t spend time to listen to it. They wouldn’t give you the chance and they’d come in after the first verse, "Why don’t you sing something that everybody knows?" It was the system at the time and I did what I had to do. There’s a time for everything and when I developed and came back, I said, "Now I’m going to give you something original." And I’ve been doing original ever since. The first song that came out that had a big impact in the dance hall was a song called "It’s Over Now" on the "Cover Me" riddim, so I knew my original tunes could work but at that time everyone was covering Sanchez and Singing Melody, you know?

LG: Original songs are better.

WW: Original stuff lasts. I feel proud! I go on certain shows and I can really jam and I feel more confident and it comes out better. I don’t have to be shy if R. Kelly or anyone else is in the crowd. But I do my own stuff, man!

LG: And no one is saying, "He didn’t match up to Bob Marley," or whomever.

WW: Yeah. Just straight up coming to you with the Alias sound.