Hope Springs Eternal

“I think the producers were running a little competition,” says vocalist Frankie Paul of the hectic period surrounding his emergence as a major reggae star in 1983. “I just wanted to get my name out to the public at that time.”

Paul, who headlines the “Reggae Summer Shock Out” concert at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sunday, certainly achieved that. He was such a hot property during the mid-’80s that the reggae market was inundated with Frankie Paul albums--22 of them by his count, and he’s just 23.

Blind since birth and prolific in output, Paul has won comparisons to Stevie Wonder in reggae circles. (The two performed together when Wonder visited the school Paul attended in Jamaica in 1976.) Paul was heavily influenced by the hits of American vocalists such as Wonder, as well as the popular Jamaican singer Dennis Brown.

“I was born with music,” says Paul. “I started young, singing at school concerts and parties, on the play field, in the music room, in math class, everywhere. I was singing on the streets in Jamaica earning some little dollars at a young age.”

Paul came to the attention of noted Jamaican session guitarist Earl (Chinna) Smith and cut his first single in 1981. His first major hit came after he hooked up with producer Junjo Lawes in 1983 and released “Pass the Tu-Sheng-Peng” in 1983. Four years later, he hit No. 1 on the British pop chart with a reggae version of “Sara,” from the film “Fire and Ice.”

With that crossover success to his credit and a versatile, expressive voice that can evoke the late Marvin Gaye, Paul would seem to be a natural candidate for the American pop market. But the perception that reggae artists can attract only a limited cult audience apparently still lingers.

“Some of the record companies haven’t heard the real part of me yet,” Paul says. “I should have been picked out a long time. I don’t know what’s holding it up, but one of these days. . . .”