In 1964, Millie Small made one of only two or three trips back to her homeland, Jamaica, and it is an occasion that is engraved in singer Dennis Alcapone’s heart. He was fortunate enough to have actually seen the sensational My Boy Lollipop singer...
Carl Livingstone, the older brother of Bunny Wailer; Danny Livingston, his younger brother; Cedella Marley Booker; Asadenaki Livingston, Bunny Wailer’s son; and Maxine Stowe are some of the persons who feature in Blackheart Man, a mini-documentary...
In 2011, Bushman Sings the Bush Doctor: A Tribute to Peter Tosh, was produced in collaboration with Penthouse Productions and released by VP Records. The artiste, Bushman, agrees that the album, all 12 tracks – among them Bush Doctor, Legalise It,...
Merritone Disco is in celebration mode, having reached the biblical milestone of three score and ten, and for them, their mantra accurately sums up their modus operandi: ‘Things of quality have no fear of time.’ Or, as owner Monte Blake puts it,...
Producer Mikie Bennett, in a recent interview with The Sunday Gleaner on the influence and impact of Vybz Kartel on the music, noted that the controversial dancehall artiste is the “most dominant figure we have had in dancehall in many years”....
Friday’s passing of elder statesman of reggae music Bob Andy has plunged the industry and legions of fans worldwide into mourning for a giant whose decades-long, storied career led to him being bestowed the title “music royalty”. A singer,...
With three months to go before the annual July 1 celebration of International Reggae Day (IRD), conceptualiser Andrea Davis, while not jittery, has said that the COVID-19 pandemic will have an effect on how the day is played out. She is more...
The arrival of coronavirus on a global scale was the catalyst that prompted a tsunami of cancellations of entertainment events worldwide, and in Jamaica, it started intense conversations about the staging of two major calendar events: carnival and...
Bob Marley and the Wailers’ militant Get Up Stand Up, the opening anthem from their 1973 iconic Burnin’ album, remains as relevant today as it was over four decades ago. It has been embraced as the definitive rallying cry for oppressed people to...
Zac Jone$ is another entertainer who has a zany spelling to his name – a dollar sign at the end instead of the letter ‘s’ – however, that trait doesn’t translate into his music. The California-based Jamaican rapper is as upstanding as they come,...
The humorous, youthful-looking Patricia Chin, affectionately known as Miss Pat, has dedicated six decades to building the careers of reggae music and its stars, but at last Sunday’s Reggae/Black History Month Grounation 2020 series, the VP Records...
For his newest album project, dancehall deejay Papa Michigan had one desire: for it to be different. And, fortunately for him, the man who wears “different” like a badge of honour, DJ DreGhost, was only too happy to oblige. “When he said he wanted...
Legendary singer Tony Gregory has an enduring discography, almost 60 years deep, and during those six decades, he has amassed a fan base that stretches across the globe. While the adulation from the majority of his fans stems from his relatable...
In chapter four of the great book of Judges, we meet Jael. She is not a harlot and doesn’t seem to have a scandalous past, but Bible commentators accuse her of other sins – “sacrificing the sacred rights of hospitality to her dark purpose”, “the...
The Holy Bible is suffused with escapades of great men, and on the flip side, there are also incredible stories of great women, a couple of whom are even defined by the term ‘harlot’. Simply put, a harlot is a woman who prostitutes her body for...
One dozen years have passed since Jodian Pantry hitched her wagon to a star when she placed second in the Digicel Rising Stars competition. The then 18-year-old Pantry had been no stranger to popularity, having placed second in the Jamaica Cultural...
With his prognosis being labelled “very good”, legendary reggae artiste Bunny Wailer is currently working on a project that he hopes to release the weekend of February 28, 2020, to significantly close off Reggae Month. He is producing an EP in...
The story of Samson and Delilah, which is dramatised in the book of Judges, Chapter 16, tells the story of the world’s strongest man, reduced to a puny weakling, meeting an untimely death all in the name of love. A beautiful Philistine woman,...
The Book of Genesis reveals the most incredible dramas, some of which just happen to be sexual in nature. Take, for instance, the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (hereafter referred to as Mrs Potiphar). Though old as the Bible, it possesses a...
Jamaican actress Sashani is currently in total celebration mode over her first big film role. The movie, A Christmas Winter Song, which stars veteran actor Stan Shaw, actress and singer Ashanti, and Sashani will premiere on Lifetime on December 14...
The year was 1991 and a singer named Wayne Wonder had a collection of big songs, which secured for him a space on the Sting stage that December. The venue was the National Stadium in Kingston, and not only was Wayne Wonder excited about his own...
Can you imagine securing a role in a movie only for the producers to pour cold water on your giddy excitement by telling you that acceptance could mean being blacklisted by Hollywood and never working again? That’s exactly what happened to Ashley...
The Gargamel, Mr Mention, Buju Banton, call him what you will, he is back. Not since the release of Buju Banton’s Browning has his co-manager, Donovon Germaine, seen such a frenzy with a new song. The referenced song was co-produced in 1991 by...
Barbara Smith, better known as Lady Ann, a veteran dancehall artiste whose megahit, Informer, set her in a league of her own, has come in for commendation from the wife of Brigadier Jerry. “Lady Ann is my backbone. She has been a tower of strength...
Afrobeats, the dancehall-dipped pop music of African origin, has arrived, and with its huge, burgeoning market, the whispers that it could be muscling out reggae and dancehall music are getting louder. In 2012, Afrobeats was said to be “the new...
