Released on 22^nd November is a 7” vinyl EP, the first in a series of reggae covers of soul classics from the Zion Gate Music label, which will feature various singers backed by the Zion Gate Players.

The first of these releases will see British based singer Christine Miller give her rendition of Marvin Gaye's Inner City Blues, which will be backed by 2 instrumentals and a version.

Christine has a fine, strong voice and has previously featured on backing vocals for Tony Roots' Gift of Life while more recently she did a duet with King Kong on the King Shiloh Records release Rasta Live On. The instrumental cuts see Arnaud Fradin (guitar) and Franck Bougier (trombone) from well known French blues band Malted Milk take the lead. This well regarded band has in the past backed headliners such as Big Joe Turner as well as participated in the finals of the Memphis International Blues Challenge in 2007.

The next release looks to be a Prince Jamo version of Aaron Neville’s Hercules, a song that has been sampled by many in the Hip Hop field such as Young MC (I Come Off), Biz Markie (A Thing Named Kim) and 2 Live Crew (In The Dust), and due to its rolling nature should make a very good reggae version. As before this will be backed up by instrumentals. Plans are also afoot for an album with all this singers though no concrete details are available at this time.

The idea of reggae versions of soul songs may not be a new one but judging by this first offering and a promising sounding second release this has all the makings of a very good and interesting project.

If you would like a copy of this and the future releases they should be available in most reggae shops as they are being distributed by Oneness Records, Patate Records, Pusher Distribution, Mike Williams and David Dubwise.