For ‘A Chance on Love’, his latest song, Leroy Sibbles ‘returns’ to the sound that brought him fame as a member of The Heptones. It is driven by the music of ‘Me and You’, a song recorded at Studio One in the late 1960s by Carlton and The Shoes.
‘A Chance on Love’ is produced by Donovan Germain for Penthouse Records, the Kingston-based company that helped launch the careers of Buju Banton and Wayne Wonder.
Sibbles, who made his name as an artist and bass guitarist at Studio One, was keen to record a song on the revamped ‘riddim’ the first time he heard it. “I was thinking that it sounded familiar, (so) I wrote the lyrics when I heard the riddim,” said Sibbles.
‘A Chance on Love’ reunites Sibbles with Penthouse Records. In the 1990s, he recorded several songs for the label including ‘No Bad Feelings’ and ‘It’s Not Over Yet’. Most of Sibbles’ recent songs have been self-produced for his Bright Beam label.
As lead singer and chief songwriter for The Heptones, Sibbles made some of the rock steady era’s biggest hits including ‘Sea of Love’, ‘Equal Rights’, ‘Sweet Talking’ and ‘Pretty Looks Isn’t All’.
He also played bass on numerous timeless songs at Studio One such as ‘Baby Why’ by The Cables, ‘A Love I Can Feel’ by John Holt and ‘Door Peep’ by Burning Spear.
