He got religion, and it shows in his music.
Legendary Jamaican artist “Mr. Vegas,” widely known internationally for singing catchy reggae and dancehall songs often laced with raunchy lyrics, is literally cleaning up his act.
After a prolific, 20-year career highlighted by such party hits as “Heads High” and “Hot Gal Today,” the 42-year-old musician, born Clifford Smith in Jamaica, recently converted to Christianity. He released “Soul Therapy,” his first gospel album, on MV Records on Feb. 24.
“It’s all gospel and gospel means truth,” he said. “I wanted to celebrate giving yourself to Christ and all of (the) obstacles I managed (to go) through to create my platform.”
Mr. Vegas insisted he is no evangelist, and is not trying to convince any of his fans to follow his lead and become converts themselves.
“We are trying to teach in a soulful way and connect people to their soulful spirit,” he said. “When they are listening to the songs they will feel closer to God and I deliberately did it that way to reach out to people.”
The entertainer said he was motivated to become a Christian by the recent spate of violent terror attacks around the globe — including the November, 2015 bloodbath in Paris in which 130 people were killed and hundreds wounded in a series of simultaneous assaults.
“People are so unsure of what the next moment is going to be, so we’re just trying to put some positive vibrations into the world because God forbid something happens, you want to make sure your soul is right with God,” he said.
Mr. Vegas calls “Soul Therapy,” — his 11th studio album — “clean positive music that can uplift.” He plans to take it on tour toward the end of this year, and said he is not worried about how his newest product will be received.
“My loyal fans know what Mr. Vegas brings to the table, so it’s not like fans are being short-changed,” he said. “They’re getting more.”
