Glen, you were on stage tonight with Downbeat The Ruler, the man who back in the day introduced you to Coxsone Dodd. Take us back in time a bit; how far back does your relationship with Downbeat go and when did you first hook up with him?
Glen Washington:
"I've known Downbeat for a long long time, but musically speaking we hooked up in or around 1996, when I had a certain tune playing on the radio that he liked and he contacted me to do a dub plate for his sound. That one dub plate eventually ended up being a whole bunch of dubs. Downbeat told me he wanted to do these dubs at the source, so he took me to Studio One and there he introduced me to Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd and the rest, as they say, is history. I recorded quite a few songs for Coxsone and after a while he took me apart and told me: "Jackson, we need to do a whole album!" He used to call everyone Jackson you know."

That of course turned out to be the ‘Brother To Brother' album, but there's still more than an album's worth of songs from these sessions that have never been released. Now that Coxsone has passed on, what's going to happen with these tracks?
Glen Washington:
"Well, I'm not too sure. In my view there are two possibilities, or the people that are taking care of his estate still put them out, or I could re-record them at one stage and put them out myself. There's quite some songs left, because in all I think I did about two albums and a half worth of songs for Coxsone."

Let's go back in history even further; for your very first stage performance you did a song called 'Suzie'. Tell us a little bit more about that moment.
Glen Washington:
"(laughs) All of that really came about on a dare you know! I was still going to school at that time and a Chinese restaurant in the town where I lived (May Pen, Clarendon, red.), was hosting a talent contest. A bunch of my friends hyped me up to enter the contest. The bass player of the band backing the artists that night told me you could get more points if you performed an original song. It's really from that moment onwards that I've always preferred writing and performing my own songs. Back then I decided to write a song about my girlfriend at the time, who was a girl called Suzie. I passed the first elimination round and also the second and before I knew it I had also passed the semi-finals and I found myself competing in the final, which I also won."

Strangely enough though in the following decades you would be working more as a drummer than as a singer.
Glen Washington:
"I spent a lot of years encumbered behind the drums. I'm using that term because I was in fact primarily a singer. I was the lead singer of a band called C35 Incorporated. Our first drummer was Joseph Hill, who later started Culture, and he's the one who also taught me how to play the drums. When he left, I was the closest thing to a real drummer the band had, so I stepped in. I had them put my microphone next to the drum kit and for years I've been known as the singing drummer! I've been a drummer for many years, supporting many different artists on their tours, but every chance I got I would be recording my own tunes. I remember I was touring with Gregory Isaacs and a band called Calabash from New York, when I finally decided to call it quits and focus on my singing career whatever the consequences, and that was when the whole Downbeat thing started. Then after I did the 'Brother To Brother' album, VP Records sent Lloyd Campbell to come knocking at my door and I did the 'Get Next To Me' album with him."

You just recorded yet another album with Lloyd Campbell, ‘Destiny'. Can we say that he's a producer you feel comfortable working with?
Glen Washington:
"Yeah, I'm definitely comfortable with him. Willie Lindo is another one I think I can really trust. Working with these guys I'm sure they will always turn out a hit tune."

Once again you used a lot of classic riddims on 'Destiny'. Do you think they are stronger than the riddims being produced nowadays?
Glen Washington:
"I'm a musician myself, so I strongly believe in good riddims. I'm very critical and I think I'm my own worst critic. What I tend to do is try to judge the songs I record as a consumer. I ask myself: "Would I go out and buy this?" and if the answer is yes, I've got a good song. I also can't just use any old lyric. A lot of tunes these days lyrically are pure rubbish, because anything that's not really edifying, teaching and uplifting is just a bunch of foolishness to me. I believe in clean music. You shouldn't have to cover your children's ears when you listen to my music, that's just not right. Anything I record I want to be proud of for years after. It's a lifetime thing so in my view artists have to look out what they put out there."

In a way you can also be considered a Motown artist; you've lived in Detroit for many years and even worked in a car factory for a while. Did the Motown sound rub off on you?
Glen Washington:
"Honestly, that music is what all of us in Jamaica grew up on! Back in the days you used to hear more rhythm and blues than anything else in Jamaica and I also listened to a lot of jazz, ska and even gospel. Even country music was played a lot on the radio in Jamaica back then."

Your voice is wonderfully suited for those great lovers' ballads. Do you consider yourself to be a ladies' man?
Glen Washington:
"(laughs) I think so, yes. Most of the ladies don't consider me to be their man though, because I'm too serious. I'm very serious about life and I want to live every day of mine to the fullest, as if it was my last day."

One, if not the most, important person in your life was your grandmother. How do you remember her?
Glen Washington:
"My grandmother was my queen. Was? No, is my queen! She instilled a lot of goodness in me and her teachings kept me from getting in trouble more than once in my life. She taught me to treat people, how to respect women, love children and respect the elderly. My grandmother was my rock. Even when I didn't have any confidence in myself anymore, she was always the one who was there to encourage me. Whenever I'm faced with a situation like that now, I still hear her voice in my head."