D’Mack covers Labrinth’s ‘Jealous’

As he prepared to cover Labrinth's Jealous, singer D'Mack called on a policy he used previously when adding his reggae flavour to a pop song.

"Making a cover song, you have to immerse yourself into it, making it your own. Appreciating what the artiste has created, but not duplicating," he said.

The Atlanta-based singer did just that for a lovers' rock take on Jealous, a hit in 2014 for Labrinth, who is a protege of X Factor boss and host Simon Cowell. His version, which was released in early September, is produced by Aubrey 'Prince' Manning, who also played drums.

"We wanted to keep that steady reggae vibe. In order to do so we had to remove the bridge, because it would take the song in a different direction. Also, the song would have been too long if we had kept it," said D'Mack.

D'Mack migrated to Canada as a boy and was raised in Toronto, where he started playing keyboards in a band called Possebility. His contemporaries in Canada included Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles and Leroy Gibbons.