The many lives of Sheldon Shepherd
Published:Sunday | November 30, 2025 | 12:08 AMOmar Tomlinson - Contributor
Sheldon Shepherd’s life these days demands serious multitasking.
With his debut album and a lead role in the hotly anticipated British television miniseries The Inheritance both on the way next year, the poet and actor is the embodiment of busy.
“The album is 90 per cent completed,” Shepherd informs on a call from Los Angeles, California, where he is now resident. “It carries 11 dub poetry-centric pieces and is a reflection on love. It’s a conceptual album and crafted as a story that interrogates why we place emphasis on love. Is love all we need? And, should we always look to love?”
Spilling details on the pending solo music project, the creative, who came to local prominence as a member of the Kingston College-founded dub poet ensemble No-Maddz at the turn of the millennium, says: “The story on this album is cohesively unpredictable and kind of sounds a tad bit oxymoronic. The opening track, One A Dem Youth Deh, is the first piece I ever won an award with at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Speech and Drama Festival when I was 12 years old. It was written by my father, Keith Shepherd.”
Ironically, daddy duty beckons at this very moment during our interview. Shepherd’s rambunctious one-year-old son, Ska – whom he shares with his fashion stylist partner – is audibly competing in the background for his attention to read a storybook.
His stacked schedule is clearly not limited to work assignments. There are pressing parental matters at hand today. “Can I have a minute?” he politely asks to tend to Ska’s persistence for a listening ear before our convo is resumed.
“I did an a capella of One A Dem Youth Deh and had shared it publicly online. Dan, of Soon Come Sound, a Philadelphia-based dub producer and musician, downloaded my vocal stems and made magic,” he reveals of the lead track.
“The second piece and about 70 per cent of the album was produced by London-based producer Eric Sterling of Sterling Sound. We went to Kingston College (KC) together, and he migrated after graduation. This is such a full-circle, emotional moment. I’m looking forward to seeing how people respond to what we have made,” shares an enthused Shepherd.
Dub poetry seduced Shepherd in his youth. He weaned himself on the works of his father, Keith, Louise Bennett-Coverley, Oku Onuora, Valerie Bloom, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, Claude McKay, Derek Walcott, and Trevor Rhone. His interest would expand to listening to the poetry of Mutabaruka and Linton Kwesi Johnson.
Asked if he believes that the dub art form can gain mainstream acceptance, he is quick to defend his work’s artistic merits. “This project fuses thought-provoking concepts, lyrical dexterity, and original melodies and cadences, with music that flows in a familiar sonic palette. It also stays true to the fresh moods, rhythms, and emotions that the various pieces carry. Listeners may consider this project art for their ears. I feel that everyone has their vibe, and to make music and art that bridges vibes and connects people, regardless of their experiences, culture, or ethnicity.”
And, what of fatherhood? Is he enjoying being a dad at 40 years old?
“Being a father is my favourite gig, to be honest. The pay is never cash, but what the journey does to and for the man is a reward that I can’t compare with any other,” he assesses. “I am father to two boys, one almost 15 years and the other almost two, Jahson and Ska. The latter lives with me in California as I embark on this new professional and personal journey. I am looking forward to an insightful and bountiful harvest.”
An array of producers have lent distinctive styles to complement Shepherd’s wordplay across the 11 tracks that have been laid down. “I have Toddla T from London and The 1 Devotion with Okeil McIntyre, who produced the single Give Thanks,” the burgeoning solo artiste notes of what is in the can.
Additionally, Jamaican-based producers Jeremy Ashbourne of From Creation and Andre Floyd each produced a composition on the album, with Ashbourne’s home studio serving as ground zero for most of the locally recorded vocals.
Besides love, resonance is the other recurring theme that Shepherd tackles over the course of his debut recording. “I knew the word, but to what extent do I know its meaning?” he posited before waxing lyrically of his existential findings. “Researching various definitions of resonance and uncovering its relevance in our physical world, I now seek to define this resonance as ‘harmonious vibration’, or more specifically, the vibration that creates harmony. Love is the circle, the cog, the original wheel to harmony’s rubber tyres, evening out and balancing the ride”.
The album’s first single, Give Thanks, dropped on November 14 on Amazon, Apple, and Spotify platforms, two weeks ahead of the North American Thanksgiving holiday. Naturally, Shepherd is excited to have new music out. “The piece articulates the sentiment of simplicity as the most logical approach to existence, opposed to forced tradition and dogma,” he explains. “The visuals accompanying the piece in the music video, which I co-directed in London with CeCe The Developer, reflects a Thanksgiving dinner. This represents social graces, formal and circumspect on the surface, but underneath lies a different reality, cloaked in judgement, shame, and disapproval.”
Shepherd’s forthcoming album is expected to be launched in early 2026. It will be marketed and distributed by Tuff Gong Records, the imprint of the famous Marley music clan.
This distribution deal came on the heels of a friendly exchange between Shepherd and Cedella Marley last year at the Reggae Geel festival in Belgium. He had been contracted as emcee for the two-day music event. “I was introducing all the amazing musicians and artistes on the main stage. It wasn’t my typical gig, but a gig nonetheless,” he recounted. Skip Marley was a featured act, and his mother, Cedella, had travelled to Belgium to support him.
The female Marley and the dub poet-turned-festival-host had crossed paths on previous occasions. “But we had never collaborated. We were both standing in the wings, watching the show,” he reminisced. “She asked me what’s going on with my music. I told her I had been recording, but as just me and not as the collective. She was interested and reminded me that Tuff Gong has distribution and that she would love to hear some of what I am making. This little talk turned out to be exactly what was needed, and in that moment, in my mind, I knew this was ideal.”
For the reggae scion who climbed the music charts in the 1990s and who toured the globe alongside her siblings in the band Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, her point of intrigue in Shepherd was “his unique creative perspective”.
“The cultural roots are evident, and at the same time, the resonance of the message is universal,” Marley tells Sunday Lifestyle. “Plus, he’s one of those rare triple-threat artistes that has established himself as an actor, musician, and author.”
She says it was a no-brainer putting an offer on the table for him to align with her family’s record label. “For Tuff Gong, one of our cornerstones is partnering with independent creatives to provide an international platform for their vision. Talking with Sheldon, I recognised some synergies, especially our views on the cultural importance of dub poetry and its contribution to several modern forms of music.”
Away from his current exploits in music, on the docket is the five-part Sky TV miniseries shot between England and here on The Rock earlier this year. The centuries-spanning supernatural drama, written by British actor and writer Karla Crome, is a reunion for Shepherd and Jamaican director Storm Saulter, who worked on the locally shot political drama Better Mus’ Come. “Professionally, I consider my upcoming role in Inheritance to be ‘an actor’s dream’ [as] the layers of the character, nuances, and overall journey makes for a compelling narrative. Storm and I did Better Mus’ Come almost two decades now, and this marks our first time working together again since. I think I speak for both of us when I say we didn’t miss a beat in synergy on this new project,” he divulged.
As for more fresh material, the multihyphenate recently released the audiobook for his 2015 debut poetry collection, In The Morning Yah, on the Odiyo mobile platform that focuses on Caribbean poetry and literary works.
“Saeed Thomas is the brain behind Odiyo, and this is a game changer and a huge opportunity for the local literature space to peruse authors, titles, and make purchases. When Saeed and I spoke about his platform, I was instantly impressed and found it to be a perfect place for my dub poetry audiobook,” Shepherd shares. He recorded the book’s 52 dub poems over five days in Philadelphia this past summer. “My big son was in the recording room with me for some of the late-night sessions. I find that dub poetry allows me the privilege of a voice of substance and acts as my therapy as I navigate personal, mental, emotional, and spiritual territory with valour.”
For the audiobook mobile app’s founder, Shepherd was a perfect fit for their expanding library, and he initiated discussion in its development phase. “We [aspire] to change the way people in the Caribbean consume their own content and also enable them to be more appreciative of it. We currently have 30 titles, and another 10 now in production,” Thomas shares with Sunday Lifestyle of the buildout plan of the company he launched in May this year. “Poets and authors like Sheldon deserve a presence everywhere, and we hope they have found a home at Odiyo. Often, our local works are not internationally appreciated as they should be. I took it upon myself to ensure there was a local platform that offers recognition and the ability for our artists to earn from their creations.”
Winding down but ready to take his little one out for an afternoon park date, our parting query is if there are any thoughts of a No-Maddz musical get-together?
“The No-Maddz represented and still represents youthful exuberance, unity, experimentation, and bravery in artistry,” Shepherd remarked. “I graciously articulate that there has been none like the outfit, and there will never be another. At this point on our individual journeys, I speak for myself when I say I bathe in the memory of our glory days, and there is tremendous peace and gratitude in the reflection.”