If you want a little reggae in your disco (or vice versa,) you had a few options as the ’70s melted into the ’80s. Third World really broke the seal with their danceable cover of the O’Jays tune “Now That We Found Love.” A couple of years later, Island Records made “Could You Be Loved” a little more dance friendly so as to make Bob Marley & The Wailers appeal to a soul/funk audience. Around the same time, Sly & Robbie were staking their claim with excellent records featuring Grace Jones and Gwen Guthrie as vocalists. Amidst all this, there was Denroy Morgan’s “I’ll Do Anything For You.” Released on independent label Becket Records, the peppy tune peaked in the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Black Singles chart in 1981.
Not only did the song successfully fuse reggae and dance music, but it contained something of a hip-hop break. It was one of the first disco songs AND one of the first reggae songs to acknowledge the ascendancy of rap music, and boasts a slight stylistic similarity to Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks.”
There was no video (come on, it was 1981!) but you don’t need a visual with a groove like this.
“I’ll Do Anything” was by far the Jamaican-born singer’s most successful tune, but his progeny have done quite all right by themselves. Morgan Heritage (a band consisting of several of Denroy’s children) are one of the most successful reggae outfits around, and Denroy’s son “Gramps,” (also a member of Morgan Heritage) has recorded with india.arie, among others.