Veteran gospel artiste promotes new single

A recording artiste since the mid-1990s, Clive Warren says he knows a hit song when he hears one, and it's what it takes to make that song a hit that puzzles him.

The Jamaican gospel singer is currently promoting And I Will Run to You, a single written and produced by Byron Malcolm. It was released in November.

Reflecting on his early years in music, Warren said once disc jockeys heard a solid song, they would have no hesitation playing it. Things have evolved considerably since.

"It's changed in the sense that it has become commercialised. You have to know somebody to get the song or songs played," said Warren.

From Manchester, Warren made his recording debut in 1998. At the time, several dancehall artistes like Papa San, Lt Stitchie and Junior Tucker had converted to Christianity. Their dancehall-flavoured songs inspired a new wave of gospel acts such as Goddy Goddy and Prodigal Son who released singles with secular beats. Those tracks caught on with young gospel fans who were also taken with the gospel/hip hop sound of American singer Kirk Franklin.

Warren says that 25 years after his debut with God Will Never Put More on You Than You Can Bear, his objective is the same -- to win souls over to Christ. That is what attracted him to And I Will Run to You.

"I like the fact that it gives credence to the Holy Spirit and God, and that all of us should bow to him for all that he has done," he stated.

A social worker and chaplain with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Warren won the 2004 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's National Gospel Song Competition with Generation. Nine years later, Encore, his sole album, was released.