“Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You”

Well, here we are with our first blog entry! I am overwhelmed and very grateful for the love this video has received. I’ve long been a fan of great quality Jamaican singers with loads of soul like Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson, Slim Smith, Joe Higgs, etc. My idea in covering this classic in a reggae style was definitely inspired by the likes of my aforementioned heroes. Alton Ellis in particular was brilliant when reinterpreting soul and/or pop hits in a Jamaican format. I have loved this song ever since I grew up hearing it on the radio by Frankie Valli. When Lauryn Hill included a cover of it on her debut solo release, “Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill”, I was floored to hear it executed so soulfully. I searched high and low to try and see if anybody had ever recorded this with a reggae vibe and found nothing, so I went ahead and created my own version of this melody that has been so dear to my heart ever since I was a little boy. As of this writing, this video has over 674,000 views and is growing by the day with a minimum of a 1,000 hits on a daily basis! Tell your friends and help it multiply even more! Bless!

It is interesting how often a song can be covered, and by how many different artists and yet Rusty comes up with a rendering that kinda defines the song. It as if the other versions, good as they are, are just try outs. You nailed this one, Mr Zinn.