World of Jamaican Music

Discover artists and hear songs from everyone on the site! Log in to Spotify in this browser to hear full songs. SourcesYour Voice

An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Tarrus Riley

Artist. Reggae, revival

Active
2004-present
Sunrise
April 26, 1979, Bronx, New York, USA

Omar "Tarrus" Riley is a singer, raised in Jamaica, whose "She's Royal" is one of the few records of the 2000s to have entered the standard Jamaican repertoire.

His father was Jimmy Riley, of the Sensations, the Techniques and the Uniques and later a solo singer, so the connections were in place before he had anything to put through them.

The relationship that made the career is with Dean Fraser, who produced his debut, Challenges (2004), and has arranged and played on most of what followed. Parables (2006) carried "She's Royal," a song in praise of a woman that avoided both the leering and the sentimentality available to it; it topped charts in Jamaica, South Florida, New York, and Canada. He had first thought of himself as a deejay: "I can't sing!" he remembered saying, and now, "I can sing, I can deejay, I can rap." Contagious (2009) followed on his own Cannon Productions through VP.

Love Situation (2014), which he described as a tribute to rocksteady, brought in U-Roy, Big Youth and Konshens and gave him his first number one on the Billboard reggae chart. He sang on Major Lazer's "Powerful" with Ellie Goulding in 2015, and "Lighter," with Shenseea and the producer Rvssian, was among the largest Jamaican records of 2020. Healing (2020), written and recorded during the first months of the pandemic, is the album of his that most directly addresses its moment.

Alongside the singing he runs the Tarrus Riley Freedom Writers Competition, a schools writing program, and songs such as "Shaka Zulu Pickney" (2011) put Black history in front of a dancehall audience. He is a Rastafarian, and the conscious material and the love songs come from the same voice.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Wikipedia says the song won CVM TV's 15th-anniversary award in 2009 for the "Most Admired Song in the Past 15 Years." "Tarrus Riley," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrus_Riley.
  2. The Rough Guide names "Jimmy Riley from the Sensations" and credits him with the harmonies on the Uniques' records with Slim Smith. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 65, 77. Wikipedia, citing David Katz, says that when Smith was in the Techniques Riley "hung around with the group hoping to join" but was not taken in. "Jimmy Riley," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Riley.
  3. The 2004 album credits Dean Fraser as one of several producers, with Paul Gauntlett, Rudy Valentino, Lavaska and Riley himself. "Tarrus Riley - Challenges," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/2151176. Fraser is credited as executive producer of Parables (2006) and as producer of the "She's Royal" single on Cannon. "Tarrus Riley - Parables," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/2285573; "Tarrus Riley - She Is Royal / Parables," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1261371.
  4. Kevin Jackson, "Riley's 'Royal' Turns 10," Jamaica Observer, May 6, 2017, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2017/05/06/rileys-royal-turns-10/.
  5. Angus Taylor, "Interview: Tarrus Riley (2012)," United Reggae, April 24, 2012, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n968/042412/interview-tarrus-riley-2012.
  6. "Tarrus Riley."
  7. A February 2014 report says the album "hits the #1 spot again, this time on the Billboard Reggae chart," and quotes Patricia Meschino on its "immaculate production of Dean Fraser and Shane Brown." "Tarrus Riley 'Love Situation' Hits #1 on Billboard Charts," World A Reggae, February 13, 2014, https://www.worldareggae.com/reggaenews/tarrus-riley-love-situation-hits-1-billboard-charts/. Wikipedia quotes his description of it as "a true tribute to the rocksteady era" and lists the guests. "Tarrus Riley."
  8. "Tarrus Riley."
  9. Wikipedia calls "Lighter" "one of his biggest hits in the Caribbean." "Tarrus Riley."
  10. Candi Kay quotes Riley telling the Jamaica Observer, "I did a lot of self reflecting, like the world is doing," and adding, "Not all of it is inspired by COVID-19." Candi Kay, "Tarrus Riley: Healing Album Review," DancehallMag, October 11, 2020, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2020/10/11/features/tarrus-riley-healing-album-review.html.
  11. Wikipedia says the competition "ran on Jamaica's Irie FM radio station" and dates "Shaka Zulu Pickney" to early 2011. "Tarrus Riley."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map