His reggae is hardly unorthodox

HE’S a rising reggae star who connects the Old Testament to new school hip-hop riddims. He’s an American-born Orthodox Jew who spouts spiritually conscious lyrics, boasts impeccable Jamaican bona fides and gets regular airplay on alternative radio.

And his name isn’t Matisyahu.

Meet Jewish reggae’s newest face, Elan. The 30-year-old Angeleno and Beverly Hills High School alum was plucked from obscurity to front the Wailers in 1996 and toured the world covering Bob Marley’s immortal back catalog for three years. Elan’s Interscope Records solo debut “Together as One” -- executive produced by No Doubt’s Tony Kanal and featuring guest vocals from Gwen Stefani, dancehall newcomer Assassin and Cutty Ranks -- hits record stores Tuesday.

Although Elan says he has known Matisyahu for several years and insists that Hasidism’s lone pop breakout is nothing less than “great for reggae,” he is quick to point out their religious and musical differences. “He’s Ashkenazi and I’m a Sephardic Jew,” Elan explains. “So you’ll never see me in a black suit with a big hat. I wear baseball hats. And I only grow a beard when I’m too lazy to shave.

“Matisyahu’s music is more Sublime-ish with rock instrumentation,” Elan continues, name checking Long Beach’s most famous blue-eyed ska punk outfit. “And he’s known more for his looks as the ‘rabbi rapper.’ Looking at me, people won’t necessarily know what I am. I’m more roots.”

You don’t have to tell that to Carlos Santana, who once mistook Elan’s voice for Marley’s during a sound-check at a Wailers show. “Carlos said, ‘I thought you were lip syncing,’ ” Elan recalls. “ ‘I closed my eyes and I felt you.’ ”

Kanal also met Elan -- who is of Moroccan Israeli descent -- at a Wailers gig at L.A.’s House of Blues and initiated their collaboration when Stefani took time out to do her solo album. “Together as One” will be the first release from Kanal’s Kingsbury Studio imprint.

“Seeing him front the Wailers and do right by those songs made me realize that I had to work with this kid,” says Kanal. “With our mutual respect of reggae, I knew we could make a great record together.”

Recording began in Jamaica in 2004 with a cast of reggae’s preeminent producers including Sly and Robbie and Steven “Lenky” Marsden and continued at the No Doubt bassist’s L.A. home studio. A chance visit by his neighbor, Stefani, resulted in the sultry electro-pop influenced duet “Allnighter.” “It was like, ‘Oh look, Gwen is here,’ ” Elan says. “She just popped by the studio to see what was going on and was like, ‘I want to sing on that!’ ”

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Paul’s first missus gave idea a miss

THINK of it as one of the more bizarre -- but also compelling -- coulda-beens of recent rock history. According to the Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr, lead singer Morrissey wrote a personal postcard two decades ago to Linda McCartney to request her piano talents for the track “Frankly, Mr. Shankly” on the Smiths’ epochal 1986 album, “The Queen Is Dead.”

“She just said she couldn’t do it,” Marr told Britain’s NME magazine this month, which is printing a special edition commemorating the album’s 20th anniversary. “We would have loved for her to do it because we were big fans of hers.”

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Buzz about an album by Beck

ACCORDING to a posting on Beck’s website, www.beck.com, Silver Lake’s favorite son has just finished recording a new studio album with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich for a slated fall release. The URL will have updates in the coming weeks.

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Keepin’ it reality with Master P

APPARENTLY inspired by his universally dissed but highly rated reality-TV turn on “Dancing With the Stars,” New Orleans rap entrepreneur Master P is trying to mount his own unscripted drama, “America’s Next Hip-Hop Stars.”

A panel of celebrity judges that reportedly includes Snoop Dogg, Paul Wall and Master P’s son Romeo (the No Limit Records artist formerly known as Lil’ Romeo) will give the Simon Cowell treatment to 12 solo artists and six rap groups performing their renditions of various hip-hop classics.

Master P said he is negotiating with several television networks and cable pay-per-view deals.