The Crown Prince, Dennis Emmanuel Brown

As part of their series, “50 Great Voices,” National Public Radio’s show Morning Edition featured the great voice of Dennis Brown. The late Brown often gets overshadowed by Bob Marley in terms of recognition; however, Marley was the first cite Brown as “the best reggae singer in the world.”

For this piece, producer Christopher Johnson interviews Bob Marley’s youngest son and reggae star in his own right, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, as well as one of Brown’s best friends and contemporaries Freddie McGregor. VP Records’ DJ George Burns in Jamaica, New York also comments.

Johnson includes some great Brown tracks from Brown’s 75+ CD arsenal, including “Man Next Door,” “No Man is an Island,” “Ain’t That Loving You,” and “Love Has Found Its Way.”

To listen to the full 7 minute piece, click here.

The piece was produced by Christopher Johnson, a former producer for Los Angeles’ public radio show Day to Day. Currently Johnson lives in Oakland, California and oversees the Oakland Voices program, a six-month training program by the Oakland Tribune, training 10 West Oakland residents to develop reporting skills that they use to research, write, and publish stories about the financially impoverished, yet culturally rich West Oakland neighborhood.