Beres Hammond

Reggae singer Beres Hammond grew up listening to his father’s Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye records, while also immersing himself in Jamaican ska and rocksteady. ∙ In 1975, Hammond joined the band Zap Pow and sang lead on their Jamaican hit “System.” ∙ While a member of Zap Pow, he also pursued a solo career, scoring his first big hit with 1976’s “One Step Ahead.” ∙ Hammond used his self-titled 1986 album to pivot from roots reggae to dancehall, and he had a pair of No. 1 Jamaican hits with “Groovy Little Thing” and “What One Dance Can Do.” ∙ “Tempted to Touch” was the best-selling Jamaican single of 1990, even though Hammond wrote its lyrics on deadline in only a half-hour. ∙ In 2013, Hammond was awarded the Order of Jamaica, the country’s equivalent of a knighthood.