LOOKING dapper in denim and 'buckers' cap, German singer Gentleman worked the media last Wednesday at the Kingston office of VP Records, the Queens, New York label distributing his latest album, Diversity.
Gentleman (Tilmann Otto to family and friends) is scheduled to perform tomorrow on the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival at the Greenfield Stadium in Trelawny. In March, he embarks on an even bigger assignment, a tour of California and South America to promote Diversity, his fifth album.
The tour comes at a good time for the lanky Gentleman. Live Your Life, a song produced by Don Corleone, is getting steady airplay on local radio so, too, Warrior, a collaboration with singer Richie Stephens.
Don Corleone produced most of the songs on Diversity, which the 35-year-old Gentleman rates as his most versatile album to date. In addition to Richie Stephens, it has duets with veteran singers Sugar Minott and Red Rose, Christopher Martin and Tanya Stephens.
With a growing fan base back home and throughout Europe, Gentleman says he is keen to break in the US, but not desperate.
"If it happen, it happen," he muttered in his best patois. "I don't lose sleep over that."
Distributed by Island in Europe, Diversity features German musicians and the Firehouse Crew, the band behind several of Luciano and Sizzla's strongest work. The album sold gold (100,000 units) in Germany.
With VP's backing, Gentleman believes he can break new ground in Uncle Sam's country.
"I've done a lot of shows there in the last three years but the records weren't reaching the people," he said. "Now I feel something, because the song (Live Your Life) is doing well in New York and South Florida."
Gentleman played several Californian festivals in 2011, but his shows on the US east coast were mainly club dates in New York City and Washington DC. He said his shows in Germany are sold out, especially in major cities like his hometown Cologne, Berlin and Munich.
France, Poland, Portugal and Spain are among Gentleman's strongest markets outside of Germany.
The youngest of three children, Tilmann Otto grew up in a religious home in Cologne where his father served as a Lutheran minister. His brother Christopher, however, was a big reggae fan who listened to reggae greats like Marley and Dennis Brown and dancehall acts such as Garnet Silk.
He remembers one album from his brother's collection having a significant impact on him becoming a professional singer.
"Wolf and Leopard by Dennis Brown. That really changed my whole view," he said.
A mix of hip-hop and reggae, Gentleman's first album, Trodin On, was released in 1999. It set the pace for Confidence, his roots reggae follow-up which sold platinum (250,000 units in Germany) in 2004.
That year, Gentleman had a sizeable hit song in Jamaica with Intoxication, produced by Don Corleone.
Gentleman has a busy tour schedule for Diversity. He opens his California dates on March 12 in San Francisco at The Fillmore before moving on to Panama one week later.
A month-long European trek starts in Hamburg, Germany on April 28.
Gentleman: ready to take on US, South America
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