Throwback Thursdays: Kevin Lyttle on “Turn Me On”

July 17, 2014


kevin-lyttle

“Turn Me On” was made in April/May of 2001 at Sky Studios in St. Vincent with the producer Adrian Bailey, and released on June 10 of 2001 at Vincy Carnival. But it was actually written in December of 2000.

My intention was to show that soca music can crossover like how Shabba and all these people crossed over into American culture. I wanted to show that soca can appeal to not just the local market but internationally. What actually happened with the song was my intention, but I didn’t expect it to work as well as it did. I said to the producer Adrian Bailey, I want that sound from those old dancehall records by people like Little Lenny and Beenie Man, on the old Punanny riddim (sings) choon-choonk-a-choonk, choon-choonk-a-choonk. The original Punanny riddim had that lighter bass line, so I took it and guided the producer with that, and that’s how the music of “Turn Me On” was designed. He’s an expert musician and did a really good job of making the tones have their own unique sound. It captured the old Punanny riddim but with a nuance with me singing that melody, which was an interpolation of a 112 song called “All My Love.”

It was kind of shocking at first, because when the song came out, people saw me bring the song and knew I sang it but a lot of people didn’t believe it was me at first, especially people who didn’t know me personally. And people who heard me sing before believe that was my voice. Because I actually used to twist my voice to [sound] something like Buju or Shaggy or Spragga. I dabbled in the dancehall a lot because I loved dancehall. It was part of the Caribbean culture that drove me as a young person in the music industry in St. Vincent.