Robert Sutherland says ‘never give up’

United States-based reggae singer Robert Sutherland is aggressively pushing his latest single, ' Never Give Up', in all ethnic reggae markets in the US and Europe.

"The inspiration for this song came from a personal situation with one of my friends who is in England. He was thinking about giving up his business, a shop, because of the financial challenges he faced. So I told him, 'Bredrin, yuh shop ah mek PS40 a week.' I told him, 'Yout, if yuh give up yuh shop, who ah give yuh PS20 each week?'

He persevered, and several years later, the "business a gwaan good now," he said. "The theme of the song, as it is in life, is that you can't give up. You can't drop yuh sword.Keep pushing on, Rasta."

The song is set to be released in February 2020 on all digital download platforms. He will also release a follow-up song, No Sunshine, which was produced by Steve Golding and Horace James on the Nijeri Records label he founded.

Sutherland attended Denham Town Primary before completing his secondary education at Tivoli Gardens High school.

A talented footballer of whom great things were expected, Sutherland instead followed his calling of music, and in the process, has richly enhanced the reggae genre.

While playing football, he made friends with talented guitar player Steve Golding, who taught him to play the guitar.

As his guitar playing skills grew, he was able to harness his innate songwriting ability.

After migrating in 1999, he continued to hone his guitar-skills and his craft. The singer, who is affectionately called 'Marky' by his peers, first gained the public spotlight with Times So Hard, which hit the top spot on reggae charts as far as Australia, while enjoying acclaim in Jamaica, North America and the Caribbean.

In the last quarter of 2012, he released his debut album Courage.

On the strength of the album, he was invited to perform in December at Hootananny music festival, known for catering to roots reggae artistes in Brixton, London.

He has continued to tour, release music and grow his fan base.

"I will be coming to Jamaica within the next few weeks to push the radio promotion of Never Give Up," he said.