“I am a Rastaman Christian!” So says 79-year-old nyahbinghi singer Ras Michael in a recent interview with The Gleaner. Michael’s spiritual belief has come full circle, having grown up with his Christian mother, converted to Rastafari in the ‘50s....
NY: New York event organiser, Conroy Allison, recently announced that it is the end of the road for the annual Merritone Family Fun day NYC, the largest Caribbean Family Fun Day in the USA. Allison said that the “significant changes” which came...
NEW YORK: In the late 1980s, long before social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were widespread, Jamaican born music executive and talent advocate Karen Mason proved she was a branding prodigy, creating successful marketing...
NEW YORK: Arthur, the longest-running children’s animated television series in the US, which airs on PBS TV and features the voice of Grammy Award-winning artiste Ziggy Marley on the theme song Believe in Yourself, will celebrate its 25th...
New York: With the recent announcement by Barbados of 33-year-old pop superstar Rihanna as a national hero, Jamaicans in the diaspora have started to amplify calls for Reggae King Bob Marley to be installed as the eighth national hero of Jamaica....
NY: Jamaican jazz veteran Monty Alexander was last Friday bestowed with a US Proclamation from Westchester County (NY) Executive George Latimer. The presentation took place at the Westchester Music Experience concert at the Tarrytown Music Hall...
NY: Jamaican jazz great Monty Alexander, who discovered the piano at the age of four, is ranked as the fifth-greatest jazz pianist in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing). At age 77, he is still touring and...
NY: You Can Get it If You Really Want, a rocksteady song that was released in 1970 by reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, is now being used in a brand new E*TRADE TV commercial, Everest Fund, which premiered nationally in the USA on mainstream TV stations...
It is all systems go this Saturday for the Ardenne Alumni Association Atlanta Chapter (AAAAC) Summer Concert Fundraising Virtual Telethon, that will seek to raise money to support the scholarship programme, which is a four-year scholarship for two...
A one woman, animated digital stage play, which stars award-winning, Toronto-based, Jamaican film producer, director and actress Sandy Daley, will be screened virtually in Canada at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. The annual event, slated for...
NEW YORK: Big Ship Captain Freddie McGregor and Reggae Queen Marcia Griffiths, two iconic singers who began their careers during the prolific rocksteady era, will be inducted into the Young, Gifted...
NEW YORK: Ska and reggae icon Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, who passed away in Jamaica at the University Hospital of the West Indies on September 11, continues to make strides in the USA with his huge catalogue of hit songs. His classic, Pressure...
NY: Jamaica’s music ambassador Richie Stephens is one of several leading acts tapped by the Government to perform at the funeral of reggae legend Toots Hibbert, as final preparations fall into place. “It will be an honour for me to help to give...
NEW YORK: Irwine Clare was hit hard by Mark ‘Buju Banton’ Myrie’s comments about the coronavirus (COVID-19). The New York radio host told The Gleaner that while the dancehall superstar’s utterances by no means surprised him, they were tough to...
NY: Kingston-born Elaine Wallace Buck, who migrated to the USA 19 years ago, is today beaming with pride, given that on Thanksgiving, Friday, November 27, her 16-year-old daughter, Tayler, will hit the silver screens, starring alongside award-...
NEW YORK: Robert Nesta ‘Bob’ Marley, who passed away over 39 years ago, continues to loom large in the United States. The reggae king’s voice is featured in not one, but two current, mainstream television commercials in the US, which may give him...
New York: The passing on 9/11 this year of reggae legend Toots Hibbert, born Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert, sent shock waves through the music world. His death was reported by international networks and publications like NBC TV, Rolling Stone, TMZ...
NY: Self-taught chef and event promoter Omar Walters, who was born in New York to Jamaica parents Maxine Greaves and Paul Walters, brought visibility to Brand Jamaica. He was prominently featured on ABC TV Channel 7 last Friday evening and...
NEW YORK: Peter Tosh’s youngest son, Gamal Jawara McIntosh, aka ‘Tosh1’, 41, was recently cremated in the US, Dave Tosh, one of Peter Tosh’s son confirmed. A devout Rastafarian, Jawara was mercilessly beaten at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey...
Brooklyn, NYC: Jamaican gospel singer and songwriter Joan Myers was recently tapped to lend her voice to one of two musically engaging public service announcements (PSA) for the 2020 United States census. The PSA songs, one reggae and the other...
New York: Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actress Kerry Washington, whose mother is Jamaican, has expressed delight that her Netflix drama, American Son – a Broadway-to-screen adaptation of Christopher Demos-Brown’s play of the same name – is...
New york: ON SUNDAY, June 29, 2014, Reggae Queen Marcia Griffiths was celebrating 50 years in the music business and she had brought along a powerful army of veterans from Jamaica to help her mark this musical milestone at Groovin In The Park 2014...
NY: JAMAICA’S GRAMMY kid, Koffee, is enjoying a new lease on life with her single ‘ Toast’, which is now featured in a new Life Water (LIFEWTR) mainstream TV commercial, which premiered on television stations nationally in the USA. LIFEWTR is a...
Bronx, NY: New York-based Japanese producer, Eisaku ‘Selector A’ Yamaguchi, says the idea for his latest compilation, Reggae Loves Unity, came to life after vibing to a Bob Marley classic – War. “That is what inspired me to do this compilation...
