BEFORE the single Live Your Life by Richie Stephens and Gentleman was officially released it was already a big favourite in Europe.

Performing it for the first time to a crowd of over 700,000 at the biggest festival in the world -- Woodstock, Stephens says it is a wonderful feeling to see the impact the song is having on people.

 The song took shape coming out of the death of Stephens' adopted son and protégé Copper Cat in January of this year. He remembers feeling really down and at a very low point in his life when he penned the words to Live Your Life.

"I came to the conclusion that Copper Cat would not want me to spend my life like this," he tells Splash.

After writing the song, Stephens sent it to German reggae act Gentleman, hoping they could do the recording together.

"I knew I was going to Europe, so the opportunity would present itself for us to team up," he notes.

By the time Stephens got there, Gentleman had already reviewed and had some changes for the song. He wanted it a bit slower among other creative input.

Leading up to Woodstock, Stephens and Gentleman made several appearances across Europe giving their fans a sneak peak of Live Your Life.

"The response was overwhelming. Everywhere we sang it they just loved it," says Stephens adding that among the stops made were Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Croatia.

Here in Jamaica, Live Your Life was released officially two weeks ago and according to Stephens, it has been receiving a lot of love on both the local and international airwaves.

It's also chalking up hits on YouTube with over 50,000 views in just one week.

— Cecelia Campbell-Livingston