Gospel singer Kevin Downswell had three words to describe how he felt about being among the 43 distinguished persons who have been conferred with membership in the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer (OD) for the year 2025. “Humbled beyond...
Last Wednesday was a special day for Kareem Burrell, the son of late Xterminator label CEO Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell. It would have been his father’s 71st birthday and Remus, as he is known, took some time to reflect. “I visited his grave and spent...
Last Tuesday, over at the Price Rite area off Red Hills Road, the Meadowvale Seventh-day Adventist Church was conducting its Drama of the Ages Countdown crusade, complete with a Hummer parked outside with its sound system blaring lots of really...
It was not by chance that UK-based information technology and telecoms company Minutes Network chose Jamaica to host the official launch of the new Jingle creator app. It was deliberate. And Vladimir Emmerig told The Sunday Gleaner that the...
The smile on Marjorie Whylie’s face as she “buss a move” on her way out of 22 Jerk on Thursday night summed up the mood of the jam session. It was the fundraiser put on by Music Unites Jamaica Foundation for singer Della Manley, who was critically...
The heroine of Diana McCaulay’s A House For Miss Pauline is 99-year-old Pauline Evadne Sinclair, who is quite a charmer, to say the least. Hailing from the district of Mason Hall, Miss Pauline is not charming with the traditional “nice little old...
Bobby Chin, co-founder of internationally acclaimed sound system Black Chiney, may have lost his sight, but certainly not his sense of humour or his vision. The personable Chin, however, will be the first one to tell you that the journey to...
In May 2021, one year after Jean ‘Sister Jean’ Watt – the wife of iconic reggae singer Neville ‘Bunny Wailer’ Livingston – went missing, her stepson, Abijah ‘Naki Wailer’ Livingston told The Sunday Gleaner that even though the family was then...
Any tribute to late reggae great Junior Byles would be incomplete without the presence of singer Patrick Buddo. It was, therefore, not surprising that he was among the first artistes to hit the stage at last week’s edition of Dancehall Thursdays,...
Gospel singer and former dancehall artiste, Cleve Laing, better known as Lt Stitchie, or simply Stitchie, is “showing signs improvement” and his family is cheering him along every milestone, no matter how minor. His wife, Sophia Laing, who is a...
It takes only three minutes into a conversation with Yvonne Bailey-Smith to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that her daughter, acclaimed author Zadie Smith, is her pride and joy, and she would go to any lengths to give her a delightful surprise...
SOMEHOW, CANCEL culture sounds like such a worldly, secular thing, but it came banging at the door of former Adventist Frontier Missions (AFM) president, Dr Conrad Vine, resulting in his unceremonious fall from grace within the Seventh-day...
The invitation announced that a cultural tribute honouring the life and legacy of Munair Zacca would be held at the Little Theatre last Wednesday evening; however, the programme indicated that the memorial for Zacca would also take place on the...
In the early ‘80s, reggae singer Gregory Isaacs was the coolest Rastaman who the then June Wyndham had ever met, and although the student-teacher barely gave him the time of day, there was no denying that his mannerisms intrigued her. So much so...
A lot has been written and said about an “unlikely friendship” between Shaggy and Sting, the duo who won the Grammy in the Best Reggae Album category in 2019 for the album 44/876. They have subsequently toured together and even released another...
Even when she’s mourning Christine Reynolds is a whole vibe. On Monday when The Sunday Gleaner reached out to her for a comment on the passing of Grammy Award-winning, American R...
When legendary sound clash titan David ‘Ram Jam’ Rodigan takes control of the wheels of steel on February 8 at Tranquillity Gardens, Dunn’s River Park, in St Ann, to play “with” — the promoter insists that it’s not “against” — his nemesis, Bass...
If reggae singer Sophia Dias were to think about changing her moniker, the name Phoenix ought to be up there somewhere in the top three for consideration. Like the proverbial bird, she is rising from the ashes of her burnt-out house, which was a ‘...
When Rupert Bent III performed with Third World Band at Fireworks on the Waterfront in 2023, his presence on stage evoked some amount of curiosity. He appeared to have tubes running from his nostrils, a clear indication that all was not well with...
Content creator Raul ‘Blaze’ Davis is quite a character. In fact, he is many characters. An actor, playwright, and social media influencer, Davis successfully carved out his space in the digital realm, fashioning relatable characters who reflect...
Wherever theatre people converge, the atmosphere is usually quite festive, and that was definitely the case at the launch of Sounds From Yaad, a celebration of Jamaican and Caribbean culture and live theatre, powered by the creative force that is...
Christmas is Better With You is the title of the just-released Yuletide song from Tessanne Chin, and it is special to her for many reasons, her children being one. “It is wonderful to see Christmas through their eyes, and this song is a dedication...
Back in the day, she was the trendsetting dancehall ‘It’ girl who swiftly rose through the ranks to become the tantalising ‘Queen of the Pack’. In the Channel 4/HBO mini-series, Get Millie Black, Patra stars as Hit Girl, the powerful owner of a...
Get Millie Black is, essentially, a multi-layered detective story teeming with plots, subplots, and counterplots. Booker Prize-winning writer Marlon James digs into the underbelly of Jamaican society, exposing the stark and the toxic while...
