Fresh from a nine-city tour of Japan, Wayne Wonder has two new songs on the market. ‘Slow It Down’ and ‘Tun Up’ are the names of those singles, which drop on July 26, the singer’s birthday. Wonder produced the latter for his Singsomusic company while ‘Slow it Down’ is a Natural Bond Entertainment production.
It was his second visit to Japan this year, following a spot date in Okinawa in April. This time around, Wonder performed in major cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Hiroshima. Particularly pleasing was the Osaka gig which he estimates drew as many as 10,000 fans.
“The tour was amazing. Once you build your fan base there will always bring a market,” said Wonder, who first visited Japan in 1991 for Japan Splash.
At that time, Japan was one of the biggest markets for dancehall music which exploded in Kingston in the 1980s. Best known for dancehall stompers like ‘Saddest Day of my Life’, ‘Joyride’ and ‘Bonafide Love (Movie Star’), Wayne Wonder is one of the artists who helped introduce the dancehall genre to American mainstream audiences during the 1990s.
In 2002, he scored his biggest commercial hit with the Steven “Lenky” Marsden-produced ‘No Letting Go’ on the massive Diwali riddim.
Wayne Wonder is scheduled to kick off five dates in the United Kingdom on July 27 at Hastings Outdoor Festival in Hastings, a town in southern England.
