Cen'C Love to deliver 'Love Letter'

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Love Letter, the debut album from singer-songwriter Cen'C Love, is scheduled for a February 9 release by Atlanta-based record company, Lyve Stone Music.

In an interview with The Gleaner last week, Cen'C Love said the set will be available digitally through iTunes and CD Baby. Cassanova, a dance track first recorded in 2008, is the album's lead song.

The daughter of reggae legend and multiple Grammy winner Bunny Wailer, Cen'C Love describes her sound as a cross between roots-reggae, dancehall and hip hop. She added that while Love Letter honours the message-legacy of her father and his contemporaries, reaching out to her generation is just as important.

"I have that old-school sound and I deal with social, cultural and political issues but I really want to appeal to my generation," she said.

Cen'C Love wrote or co-wrote most of Love Letter's 12 tracks with Shaka Gordon, an American of Jamaican parentage, who produced the album. She also played guitar on some of the songs including the acoustic number, Hey You.

The 25-year-old artiste was born Ngeri Livingston in Florida, but raised in Jamaica, where she attended Meadowbrook High School. She started recording four years ago when she did 14 songs produced by her father for Solomonic/Tuff Gong Records, but they were never released.

She also cut the Rhythm And Blues song, A Little More Time for Revolutionary Entertainment, a company in Delaware, and worked with producers Bobby 'Bobby Digital' Dixon and Grub Cooper of the Fabulous Five.

Love Letter, however, is the most ambitious project, to date, for Cen'C Love and Lyve Stone Music. Because it has not attracted any interest as yet from a major distributor, there is no official timetable for Love Letter to be released on compact disc.

There are plans to release Cassanova in Jamaica where Cen'C Love has performed on live events like Western Consciousness. Her management believes it is critical to make a breakthrough in the land of reggae.

"Jamaica is the base. Even though I live in the States, I can get more exposure if my songs are accepted in Jamaica," she said.