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10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, February 23, 2018

music

Nehemiah Hield takes listeners to a ‘Tropical Heaven’ By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

eleasing music since the ‘90s until now as cemented Nehemiah Hield as one of the most beloved male vocalists in the Bahamas. The original lead singer of the band Baha Men, former background vocalist for international superstar Lenny Kravitz and current managing director of Kingdom Glory Records, Nehemiah boasts of a lengthy and impressive resume that is jam-packed with experience, travel, awards and accolades. Now he is back from a brief hiatus with a new song, “Tropical Heaven”, the singer’s first original release since his 2016 gospel album “Overflow”. The new tune, according to Nehemiah, is a sweet contemporary gospel song that can easily transition to mainstream radio. With an uplifting message and a smooth R&B/calypso rhythm and feel-good vibes, “Tropical Heaven” aims to take the listener to a warm, happy, stress-free place filled with love and joy, the singer said. “Everything in my life is a major milestone. I wrote the song years ago, and at that a time when I was exploring how my relationship with God should work. I had just gotten into ministry and I wanted understanding. I wanted to be confident spiritually and have faith in what God had given me based on the Holy Spirit,” he told Tribune Weekend. “The name of the song just came to me while I was going through my exploration. The music is happy, makes you feel good, makes you go into a place where you can be at peace and feel complete – a tropical heaven.” Reflecting on how far God has brought him on his musical journey, Nehemiah said he was born in

Cooper’s Town, Abaco where he lived with his grandmother until he was seven years old. After moving to Nassau, he had no intention of becoming a singer until he discovered his talent while in high school. “Years later I was singing at The Palace and was discovered by Lester Adderley who invited me to sing with his band, and that was my big break professionally. I just wanted to be seen as one of the top male vocalists in the Bahamas and that happened after I was in the industry for 10 years. I didn’t plan any of this; I’ve been the beneficiary of God’s blessings,” he said. Just last year Nehemiah released a cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” in celebration of Majority Rule Day. He also released his version of “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” by the late Rev James Cleveland; the track features Bahamian music legend Marvin Henfield. The response to “Tropical Heaven”, Nehemiah said, has been great and he is certainly grateful for the support shown to this song so far. The music video to accompany the single is set to be released soon as well. Talking about the inspiration behind the music video, which was shot in Florida and Nassau, Nehemiah said after hearing the song, the director and cinematographer immediately thought the best way to depict a tropical heaven was to compare it to a stable, loving relationship. “(The director) was right. I initially didn’t think of the song in that context. Where two people are making the sacrifices for each other to make the relationship work. That’s what our Christian life is about, looking at how Christ did the ultimate by sacrificing His life. We wanted to show a positive relationship between a man and a woman. My wife is my leading lady in the video; the director wanted her to be my leading lady because he admired the way our Facebook page is always flooded with good vibes in our relationship, and he thought that

Singer Nehemiah Hield frolics in a ‘Tropical Heaven’ was a good example of what a tropical heaven looked like in a relationship. I’m thankful to my wife for stepping in, as she did an awesome job,” said Nehemiah.

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“Tropical Heaven” is the first of several projects Nehemiah has planned for 2018. The song is now available on Tidal, iTunes, Spotify and other music platforms.

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