Preston "Puzzle" Wallace Jr. isn't difficult to figure out at all -- once you realize that he's simply a gifted storyteller who "harvests" his inspiration from Bahamian culture, political and social standpoints. And that it's his goal to captivate his audience with humor -- which he does his best to portray factually. Then you have to come to the realization that he's not an artist to be boxed in, and has released singles across almost all genres -- rake n' scrape, soca, pop, reggae and R&B.

Puzzle simply says he loves music period. "I like all genres of music. To me music is definitely the world's language. It's universal and doesn't really care where you're from. All you know is what feels good and what sounds good. And it can move anybody."

Music he says is a way of life for him.

"This is what I breathe ... this is what I eat and drink."

He is also making preparations to travel to Los Angeles next month to compete, as well as participate in a music workshop, all the end result of his successes at the recent Music Model and Talent Showcase (MMTS). Puzzle won singer/songwriter competition as well as the music producer's competition, and placed third in the singer/solo competition.

Puzzle says he entered the MMTS with a goal to showcase his talent before judges from around the world, and to see where he stacked up against talent from around the Caribbean.

"I realized the competition was going to be fierce [because] it wasn't just a Bahamian thing. It was actually the Caribbean being put on the world stage, so I wanted to get in there and see what I look like against foreign talent -- that was one of the main reasons, if not the reason why I wanted to join in there and see how I lined up," said Puzzle who is also the entertainment coordinator at the Ministry of Tourism.

He's the man behind rake n' scrape hits such as "Barefoot Bandit", "Jobless", "Mommy I Pregnant", "My Birthday", and "Go Gal".

The son of Preston Wallace Sr., of Gospel Elevation, one of the great gospel groups of yesteryear who had the hit song "My Lord is Writing", Puzzle has been involved in music since the age of five, singing and playing musical instruments in church. He idolized his father very early on, and as such watched what his father did, then mimicked him. When he saw that he was getting the same kind of response from audiences that his father received that sealed his fate musically.

"Just watching him and mirroring him and getting the same kind of response from audiences, that helped to propel me to do what I do now," he said. (Actually Puzzle and his dad have released a remake of "My Lord is Writing" with his father, a song that is currently in rotation on the airwaves.) And he says his mother, Vernita Wallace was also tied into entertainment and music in some way. With both parents in music, it wasn't a stretch for him. Then there's his reggae-tuned "Sour Vibes" that was a hit as well.

True to form, having grown up in the church, Puzzle has also done a lot of ghostwriting in the gospel arena for some of today's top gospel acts, and choirs including having rapped on Shaback's first album, which he did a lot of in his youth.
With all that under his belt, he says his current fascination is with rake n' scrape and soca.

"I just wanted to do something with my cultural sound -- what's going on in The Bahamas. We gat rake n' scrape, Goombay and Junkanoo to choose from. I just fell in love with the rake n' scrape rhythm," he said.

Puzzle currently has two albums in the pipeline he's producing simultaneously. The music on them will definitely have that rake n' scrape feel with some gospel. The as yet titled albums have not been named and still have no release date. He says he doesn't want to have to rush putting them out by setting a date.

"I own my own record label so I can actually take my time. I don't want to take too much time, but I want to do it right," he said.

When he drops his next two CDs, Puzzle would have released four albums. In the past two years he dropped "Best of Puzzle: Volume 1" and Puzzle's Greatest Hits". As he looks to the future he envisions one in which he's gotten his brand out to the world, and allowed people to experience Bahamian culture through his music.

Having grown up listening to gospel, he counts Fred Hammond and BeBe Winans among his music influences as well as Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. On the homefront he counts the legendary Ronnie Butler, and Dry Bread amongst his influences; but says his father is his main influence.

When he writes, the color of the country provides a lot of his inspiration.

"The culture is really rich, so there's a lot to write about -- social commentary, and I pretty much write what I see," he said.

As for the name "Puzzle" he said it's not puzzling at all.

"I gave myself the name 'Puzzle' after I figured out I was able to produce most genres of music that people listen to, so I use each genre as a piece of my complete puzzle piece, to tell the story when you bring it all together. Music is one love, one understanding and one language. I just consider myself a piece of this puzzle that's bringing all this together. We're going to link the world together through sound ... through music."

The Cacique Award and Bahamas Icon Award nominee has performed for Sir Sidney Poitier and Oprah Winfrey at the opening of the Sir Sidney Bridge; he performed before Jay Z and Rick Fox at New York's Club 40/40 where he represented The Bahamas in celebrating the country's 40th Independence; he has also had his music selected and featured as the theme song for American radio personality Michael Baisden's movie "What Do Women Want". His song "Barefoot Bandit" was selected as the theme song for the documentary about the Barefoot Bandit in Canada.

Currently he's producing shows for the Goombay Summer Festival, as the coordinator of entertainment for the Ministry of Tourism.

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