Authenticity. It sometimes seems almost a forgotten concept in this age of most things plastic. To achieve it, one needs both credentials and validation. The artist known as Elan heads into his Interscope debut release, Together As One, with both items already firmly in place. The album is executive produced by No Doubt’s Tony Kanal and features some of the most amazing musicians and producers in Jamaican reggae culture: Sly & Robbie, Fatis, Steve “Lenky” Marsden, Tony Kelly and DJ legend Cutty Ranks among them. The album was recorded between Jamaica, Miami and Kanal’s Los Angeles studio.

All of that is important, but even talent alone isn’t enough these days when it comes to authenticity. Validation is still the bottom line, and the Los Angeles-born-and-bred Elan already has more validation in his genre than many artists have after an entire career. For three and a half years, between 1997 and 1999, Elan was the lead singer for the legendary Wailers. Night after night, in front of thousands, Elan sang the words that Bob Marley had written and popularized with–as those thousands and the Wailers themselves will testify with stunning authenticity. At first, people frequently thought he was lip-synching to Marley’s vocals; later, many, including people in Jamaica, assumed he was one of Marley’s children.

That authenticity has carried over to Elan’s Interscope debut, which features a unique combination of the young singer-songwriter’s musical influences which are heavy on the island sounds and rhythms, but also incorporate elements of classic American R&B and soul; Feli Kuti-inspired African rhythms; and even ’80s new wave pop like Depeche Mode and The Cure. It also showcases the artist’s philosophical duality, with songs that jump back and forth between strong spirituality or socio-political concerns as well as matters of the heart and libido, the difference between the sacred and the profane, so to speak. It’s the difference between "I Wanna Yell," which he wrote about economic and other injustices he saw firsthand traveling the world, and "Feel My Pressure," which is all about getting freaky with the opposite sex. When Elan discusses the album’s title track, he explains that being bound together as one is meant spiritually, politically and sexually.

The sexual motif is driven home brilliantly and sometimes comically by guest artists on three of the album’s tracks: The legendary Cutty Ranks brings an old school DJ/toaster vibe to "You Don’t Come Around No More." Assassin, a rising star and DJ in Jamaica, brings the new school vibe to "Girl." And Tami Chynn, also currently huge on the Caribbean island, half-sings, half-DJs on yet another pick-up anthem, "Don’t You Go."

As a result of his spiritual upbringing, Elan strongly believes that "everything happens for a reason and I have just one word to describe my whole life – fortunate, and I thank God every day for that fortune. I don’t believe in coincidence." Further, Elan’s career as a singer and artist is practically a textbook example of that very concept. "When I was first with the Wailers, I’d wake up every single morning thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe I’m singing with the Wailers!’ And then I realized, ‘Wait a minute! It is because of God.’"

There was a lot of singing involved in his upbringing. He still has an old family video of himself as a toddler, dressed in a cowboy outfit, strumming a guitar and singing Kenny Rogers’ "The Gambler," but he’d never thought seriously about becoming a professional vocalist. All that changed when he was in a club at age 18 with two girls who’d heard him sing along to his car radio and who told a Virgin Records A&R executive they’d just met Elan who was a singer. The A&R executive assumed they meant professionally and after Elan explained an idea to him that he’d once had about merging roots soul with a reggae dance hall vibe, keeping in mind that 311 and Sublime were just starting to hit big, the executive said he’d "love" to hear some of Elan’s music. So the recent high school grad took some money he’d saved and went into a local studio with a few musician friends to cut his first album.

AUDIO/VIDEO STREAMS:

“Together As One”  REAL PLAYER VERSION

"Together As One" WINDOWS MEDIA VERSION

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