Jamaican singer Michael Rose (or Mykal, as he now prefers to be called) came up in the heartland of the original reggae movement, Kingston, part of the same scene that spawned the Wailers, Sly & Robbie, and Big Youth. He had already established a tentative solo career by 1977 when he was asked to join Black Uhuru, a group that arguably had done its most groundbreaking work with Don Carlos and Garth Dennis, both of whom had just quit. Over the next eight years, Black Uhuru essentially became reggae’s Metallica, alienating genre purists while simultaneously scoring hits in multiple countries, eventually becoming popular enough to win a 1985 Grammy award for their Anthem album. After its release, in a classic example of going out on top, Rose announced his intention to retire from music in order to live and work on a Jamaican coffee plantation.

Luckily for his fans, he continued to occasionally release singles, until the surprise success in Japan and Europe of his one-off island pop album Proud convinced him to get back in the game full-time. In addition to collaborating with Sly & Robbie, he scored a minor American hit in 1995 with “Short Temper” and rejoined Black Uhuru for a period in 2004, all while recording a steady stream of solo albums, at least up until recently. The 60 year-old Rose doesn’t seem to have released a full-length since 2014’s Crucial World, which his website still headlines as a “new release,” so it’s unclear what kind of setlist he’s got planned for January 19, when he returns to the Belly Up for the first time in just over three years.