By Kevin Jackson—

SINGER Tony Gold, formerly of the duo Brian and Tony Gold, has released his first single in two years titled Once. The song was produced by Jah Mikes for Reggae Vibes Productions, and is currently #26 on the Foundation Radio Network Top 30 Chart.

Written by Golden Child, the song speaks about a relationship gone bad.

“The song is basically about a man and a woman who do things outside of their relationship and there’s forgiveness. But in this instance, the girl wants to walk and he’s saying he will never find another like her,” Gold told Jamaica Observer.

Gold has been absent from the music scene for a while. Now residing between New York and Kingston, he has been back in the studio working on his debut solo album which is tentatively set for release next year.

Born Patrick Anthony Morrison, Gold is from Porus, Manchester. In the mid 1980’s he teamed with English-born Brian Thompson to form the duo Brian and Tony Gold.

“It was during the Tastee Talent competition in 1986 that we met. He came first and I came second. During his performance after he was announced the winner I took a microphone from side stage and did the harmony, which was never rehearsed but sounded well-rehearsed, even though we have never sung together before. Months after the competition, he came to my home and asked me to come sing with him at Tastee, where they had invited him to perform as a guest. He was told by Bagga Case (of Home T) who saw us that I was the person he should be singing with, so we teamed up and did the performance together at Tastee, and we were invited by Home T’s Mikey Bennett to come rehearse with them. That’s how it all started,” Tony recalled.

“We played around with a couple names until we came up with the name Gold for the golden voices and then I used my pet name Tony. That’s how the name Brian and Tony Gold came about.”

Brian & Tony Gold in the 90’s

The duo’s first recorded song was You Got the Love in 1987. It was released on the Red Rock label. But later that year, they scored their first hit with the Jammy’s-produced Bulls Eye.

Gold reminisced about the duo’s success.

“We were under the guidance of the great Mikey Bennett and we recorded songs with Dennis Brown and Shabba Ranks just to name a few. We also opened shows for Regina Belle and Ce Ce Penniston; performed on Reggae Sunsplash, Top of the Pops in the UK, and had a number two hit on the British pop chart. We also toured with Shaggy and did Japan Splash. Linking up with Robert Livingston, who afforded us the opportunity to be a part of the Big Yard crew in 1995, allowed us to be the opening act for Shaggy on many of his world tours,” he said.

Among the duo’s hits were Poison, Can You, and A Love That’s Real (all of which topped local charts), Sherry Baby, Irresistible, and Compliments on Your Kiss (featuring Red Dragon) which reached number 2 on the British pop chart.

“ Can You was popular during the apartheid era, which did a lot in helping the cause of dismantling that regime,” said Gold.

The duo hasn’t performed together in almost a decade.

“There was nothing official to say we split, but we haven’t performed as a duo since 2008,” said Gold.

Brian and Tony Gold have released two studio albums; Green Light (Pow Wow Records) and Irresistible (Big Yard). A Best of Brian and Tony Gold was released by Jammy’s.

Since going solo, Tony Gold has released songs including Only You, Rock Me Baby and Hold Tight.