Irie Love

Better Than Love

Irie Love – it’s all in the name! Her father must have had a premonition of things to come! A reggae fan, he named her Irie after the Third World song “Irie Ites”. Born Irie Love Taylor in Kailua, Hawaii in 1982, she is a descendant of the legendary Love’s Bakery founder Robert Love in Hawaii. 

Irie began singing at thirteen years of age, performing solos at the family church. While she loved music, it was not her first choice as a career growing up. An athlete like her father who was an NFL linebacker, she aspired to become a player for the WNBA, until her hopes were dashed by a leg injury. At seventeen Irie sang in the “Brown Bags to Stardom” competition in Honolulu, where she so impressed one of the judges, John Iervolino, that he later signed her to his record label, Quiet Storm Records. In addition to being featured as the only new artist on his world music compilation, her image appeared on the cover and was used to promote the album. She moved to California in 2000 to attend Azusa Pacific University where she studied music, her major, and business. As well as training in opera and classical voice, she also taught herself how to play acoustic guitar and ukulele. 

It didn’t take long for her to be noticed and in 2002 Irie got her first big break as backup vocalist for Pink. Subsequent tours followed with Chaka Khan, Dave Hollister and others. Irie’s solo career began opening for major reggae acts in Hawaii such as Steel Pulse, Damian and Julian Marley, Gregory Isaacs and many more. In 2006 Love was introduced to the reggae group Morgan Heritage at the East Fest in Jamaica and soon after signed to their production company, Gedion Music. She went on to tour the world as their opening act. 

Writing almost all of her own material, Irie is a versatile performer whose style encompasses reggae, jazz, R&B, soul, hip hop and dancehall effortlessly. Her mission as an artist is to “empower, inspire and entertain the world through her love of music”. She released her first album, Ehiku in the fall of 2008. A second album quickly followed in 2009. Life Of Love was released in Japan, where Irie gained popularity and later returned to tour in 2014. Her album This Is Irie Love, released in October 2012, went straight to the top 50 on iTunes USA. Other works by Love include Let It Fly (feat. Peetah Morgan), Good Love, It Is Wut It Is (feat. Fiji) and Step Up. Her latest duet single, Better Than Love with Christopher Ellis, produced by reggae superstar Damian Marley, climbed the charts on Hawaiian radio. She has also been featured in several compilation albums.

After a whirlwind lifestyle, living in Jamaica, England and California as well as completing two world tours, Irie returned to Hawaii in 2014 explaining in one interview “there’s no place like home.” There, in conjunction with the Mana Maoli project and her own Empower the Youth campaign, she became involved with the Mana Mele Mentorship program. Her goal is to expose youth to musical influence, something she felt she didn’t have enough of growing up. 

Irie is an avid foodie, publishing her own blog, irielovesfood.com. It seems to be in her blood, possibly a throwback to her family’s culinary heritage. Her blog is currently being developed for television, and will combine featured guest chefs, her favorite recipes and live music, neatly tying in two of her passions. She plans to air the pilot for this series on her Youtube channel in fall 2015. Keeping up a busy schedule, she continues to travel to Los Angeles and New York to work on her upcoming album, which she says will be more R&B/Hip-Hop, slated for release in early 2015.
 
Look out for Irie’s West Coast tour in California and Nevada this month! 

On May 2, 2015, IRIE LOVE will launch her official Kickstarter campaign to fund her second album. We hope you will join us as we show our love and support for IRIE LOVE’s musical journey! Visit Kickstarter and search for IRIE LOVE. Blessings!