She returned to Jamaica soon after, and it wasn't long before she was picked as a vocalist for famed Kingston Rastafarian artist Richie Spice. Etana was quite happy working as a vocalist, singing someone else's songs, and it wasn't until the record label suggested she write a song of her own that the notion of being a solo female artist entered her head.
"I wasn't going to make my own music at all, until I was asked to write a song. It took me a long time, probably about six months, of touring on the road as a back-up singer for Richard Spice, to build the confidence to try and write a song, and then it took six months for the song to gain some popularity, and then that was it!"
She released her fourth solo album I Rise in October, and it topped the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. It was produced by celebrated Jamaican muso Clive Hunt, whom Etana affectionately refers to as The Boss.
"Before we started working together I knew he was talented, and I knew he was a little weird, a little strange. But I found that because he was so into the music, and as talented as he was, he was a genius really, and a genius is always little different from the regular guy you meet at the coffee shop. And you can see the love he has for reggae music, the way he produces, the way he'll work a song over and over again if he feels it's not big enough, or not right. I feel so lucky to have worked with him."
Etana's performance at Raggamuffin won't be her first New Zealand visit - last year she collaborated with Wellington-born Pacific Reggae artist Swiss on a cover of country hit If Tomorrow Never Comes, and filmed the music video on Auckland's West Coast beaches. "I love it down there, we had loads of fun. [It all came about] because our record labels talked, Swiss wanted to do a collaboration with a Jamaican female, someone who might help them make an impact in Jamaica, and they chose mem which was very flattering. I knew a bit about New Zealand, but I didn't know much about the artists down there, so it was a little adventure."
She now lives in Florida on and off while she's touring in the States, but she misses Jamaica, and thinks the country has a powerful influence on her music. "I miss going by the river, I miss walking up the hill, going up the mountain, I miss all of that. And I think the beauty of it, the struggle in it, the pain and hardship, everything about Jamaica makes it beautiful, and makes it what it is, and makes the people who they are, and makes the music what it is."
Who: Etana
Where and when: Performing at the Raggamuffin festival at The Trusts Arena in Henderson this Saturday, December 13, along with UB40, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Chronixx, Che Fu, Katchafire, Aaradhna, and many others. The festival kicks off at 10.30am. See raggamuffin.co.nz for details.
* Follow TimeOut on Facebook
- TimeOut
