Denroy Morgan, the Jamaican reggae artist who thundered his way on onto the American Billboard charts in the early 1980s with his smash single and recurrent classic I’ll Do Anything For You, and who is also the patriarch and founder of the critically acclaimed international reggae group Morgan Heritage is once again blazing new trails. On Sunday he launched a musical ministry, one called the King David Sabbatical Musical Ministry, and the main theme of this outreach is the promotion of spirituality through musical diversity and the unification of peoples regardless of their outward physical, cultural and social trappings.

The launch took place in the seaside resort town of Asbury Park in New Jersey, a town that is also famous as the birthplace of another musical icon- Bruce Springsteen. The evening’s program there at the First Haitian Baptist Church was dubbed Unification: The Beginning, and the unification that Denroy Morgan seeks to accomplish was visible in the hundreds of multi-cultural people who showed up on a damp and drizzly Sunday to witness the musical testaments of a some ten artists, preachers and musicians, some who came from as far away as Boston, Massachusetts.

The event also marked the launch of a new one hour radio show that will be hosted by Morgan himself, and that will air on WYGG 88.1 FM in New Jersey on Saturdays at 12 noon EST. The show, to be a reflection of Morgan’s musical ministry, will also be streamed at goodnewsradiofm.com.   The first broadcast will take place on Saturday May 28.

Denroy Morgan rendered a jaw-dropping performance with songs from his forthcoming album Link Up Ethiopia, and he was joined by two of his 32 children, Gramps, who flew in from Jamaica for the event and Laza, his youngest son who is now signed to Elektra/ Atlantic Records, and whose new single One By One featuring Jamaican star boy Mavado is currently being promoted by the label to radio mix shows nationally.  Also joining Morgan were a New England-based band The Alchemystics, and performing artists Jamillah Joseph, Guy Henry, Cassandra Monplaisir, the West Side Christian Academy Children’s Choir and producer/ performer/ studio owner Guy Daniel who distributed peace sun glasses to each attendee.

The event ended with Bob Marley’s joyous and explosive One Love anthem followed by a meal in the hospitality room of the church.