Tarrus (born Omar Riley) is the son of foundation reggae singer Jimmy Riley, formerly of the vocal trio The Uniques, and a nurse, Lavern Tatham, so he refers to his songs as “healing music.” Tarrus recorded his earliest singles as a teenager for his father’s Love and Promotion label but, his mother played the larger role in encouraging his musical talents; she suggested he adopt his birth sign, Taurus, as his stage name back when he was deejaying over dancehall beats.
“I came into this music as a deejay, I thought singing was boring, I couldn’t relate to it,” Tarrus reveals. “But when I started writing songs and really learned about music I started to appreciate singing. After a while deejaying started to feel a little limited and I wanted to sing more and get into songwriting.”
Tarrus Riley is internationally known as one of Jamaica’s most marketable exports. This collection gathers hits from his previous albums Challenges in 2004, Parables in 2006 and Contagious in 2009, plus, his latest single, a remake of the Gregory Isaacs nugget “Front Door” and provides the listener with an intimate portrait of this unique artist. Whether he is crooning “Superman” his remake of the Robin Thicke song, teasing out the meaning behind his song “S-Craving”, displaying his Sing-Jay skills on “Beware” or the universal charm of “She’s Royal,” the voice of Tarrus Riley is distinctively pleasing. The production on all 10 songs is top notch and the messages are consistent; uplift the audience with the love of reggae music.
