Gentleman

Under the name Gentleman, Tilmann Otto, a German musician based in Cologne, has been developing a reggae style since the late 1990s that is strongly influenced by Jamaican roots and dancehall traditions, singing in English and Jamaican patois. His regular stays in Jamaica from adolescence quickly shaped his career, first visible in his contribution to "Tabula Rasa" by Freundeskreis in 1998 and then on his first solo albums Trodin On (1999) and Journey to Jah (2002). Gentleman then refined a more melodic and spiritual writing on Confidence (2004), Another Intensity (2007) and Diversity (2010), alternating tracks centered on roots reggae, songs closer to dancehall, and productions open to soul or pop-reggae. He has also engaged in collective and live formats, notably Gentleman & The Far East Band Live (2003), Live Your Life with Richie Stephens (2012) and Conversations with Ky-Mani Marley (2016). His trajectory also includes New Day Dawn (2013), MTV Unplugged (2014), The Selection (2017), followed by German-language projects Blaue Stunde (2020) and Mad World (2022), which show a linguistic evolution without breaking with his reggae roots.