Benjy Myaz recalls making reggae favourite Love You Higher

Jamaican singer Benjy Myaz has looked back on the making of Love You Higher, his reggae adaptation of Randy Crawford’s 1986 recording Higher Than Anyone Can Count. The song, released about 10 years after Crawford’s version, became one of the singer’s best-known covers and grew out of a melody he said had stayed with him for years.

Myaz said the Crawford record was familiar in Jamaica, turning up at dances and on radio. He said he had long admired the song and eventually decided to reshape it with a reggae feel and his own vocal approach.

He also acknowledged that the cover was not cleared before it was made. According to Myaz, the original writer later challenged him about the recording, leading to discussions over why he had done it. He said full clearance was not obtained, and the track had to be shortened. At the time, he said, the release format was 45 rpm vinyl rather than CDs or MP3s.

Myaz said the shorter, more memorable title Love You Higher was chosen because Crawford’s original title was harder for many listeners to remember, even when they knew the tune.

The singer said he arranged and produced the recording himself. It was done at 93 East Records, a studio space at 93 East Street associated with the late Trevor Bailey. Myaz described the studio as his personal creative base and said the location still exists.

He said the finished mix sat for a year before release while he repeatedly played it in his vehicle. That period, he said, helped him decide when the song was ready for the public.

Among his strongest memories of Love You Higher was performing it at Dennis Brown and Friends, where he presented himself to an audience that already knew the song from radio. Another major moment came in 2000, when he performed it with Randy Crawford at the Prime Minister’s Gala at Jamaica House. The performance, arranged through the Prime Minister’s office, turned the song into a duet, with Myaz entering on the second verse.