BY BRIAN BONITTO Associate Editor A NEW date and venue have been set for the funeral of rocksteady/ reggae singer John Holt. This follows a request by the late singer’s wife, Merl. “We want to bury my dad in a nice and honourable way,” Carol Holt, daughter of the late singer, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday. “This is what my mother wishes. The service will be at the Hol... »
Jamaican born reggae singer Anita Antoinette continues to make her way up the ranks on The Voice 7. Last night Antoinette wowed the audience and judges when she performed Meghan Trainor viral single “All About That Bass.” This is her third performance on The Voice but her first one live and she killed it. Although she has yet to make the impact of Tessanne Chin on season 5 of The Voice, Anita is h... »
Sean Paul is now an independent artist after he and Atlantic Records ties this summer. For weeks there were rumors that the label has dropped the dancehall star after a 12-year relationship went sour. For the first time Sean Paul is opening up on the circumstances that lead to him leaving thelabel. Speaking with Billboard, SP says he felt like Atlantic staffs were too inexperience to work with. “I... »
ST ANN, Jamaica — A St Ann business man and a female employee of the Cool Oasis petrol company are facing multiple charges in a $100-million fuel racket in St Ann. The two were charged by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Agency (MOCA) on Friday and will be taken before the court next Tuesday, November 11. Thirty-nine-year-old Hansley Berry the operator of a service station in Mo... »
Vybz Kartel will be behind bars for a very long time but could a new dancehall act take his place? A new breed of dancehall artists are popping that are changing up their images to look strikingly similar to the Worl’Boss. In recent weeks artists such as Alkaline and Gage are being accused of bootlegging Kartel’s look. But some artists are even pushing the controversy boundary even further in thei... »
ENTERTAINER Ninja Man, his son, and two other men will now have to wait until April 13, 2015 to be tried in Kingston’s Home Circuit Court for murder. The date was set when they appeared in court yesterday. The artiste, whose real name is Desmond Ballentyne, and son Janiel, are to be tried along with Seymour Samuels and Dennis Clayton. The four are facing the court for the March 16, 2009 gun ... »
Been a while since we’ve heard from dancehall veteran Spragga Benz, but he is back on the scene with a new video. Spragga Benz isn’t afraid of duppy or vampires in the video for his single “Duppy Nuh Frighten Vampire,” off his album Shotta Culture. The gritty dancehall single was produced by BoomTunes, Red Square and Jah Snowcone. Spragga Benz head the label Red Square. The dancehall icon was inst... »
Even from behind prison walls Vybz Kartel is still the hottest topic in dancehall. But there is a new rise of new dancehall acts that are altering their image to look like the incarcerated dancehall star. Gage is the latest deejay to change up his physical appearance to look like Vybz Kartel. Dancehall fans have been bashing the deejay on social media since he uploaded severalphotos on his Instagr... »
Dr. Myles Munroe, the internationally renown Bible teacher, author and leader of Bahamas Faith Ministries, died along with his wife and daughter when the plane on which they were passengers crashed in Grand Bahama on Sunday. The Department of Civil Aviation in the Bahamas reported that the Lear 36executive jet departed Lynden Pindling International Airport for Grand Bahama International airport at... »
JAMAICANS have loved Dionne Warwick since the 1960s when she broke through with a number of classy songs for songwriters Burt Bacharach and David Lloyd. The singer recently released her latest album, Feels So Good, a 14-track set that hears her teaming with her contemporary Gladys Knight, as well as an all-star cast that includes Cyndi Lauper, Jamie Foxx, CeeLo Green, Ruben Studdart and Ziggy Mar... »
Entertainer Harry Belafonte, was among four cinematic veterans honoured on Saturday at the Governor’s Awards in Los Angeles, California. The others are: Maureen O’Hara, Hayao Miyazak and Jean-Claude Carriere. Belafonte was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his activism. The 87-year-old was a prominent civil rights campaigner and friend of Martin Luther King Jr, who he su... »
US retailer, Home Depot, has announced that hackers who stole payment card details of millions of customers, also stole 53 million e-mail addresses. It said hackers accessed its network with a vendor’s user name and password between during the period April to September. The company had previously revealed that 56 million debit and credit card details were also stolen in the hack. Analysts s... »
MACHEL Montano won the Soul Train Award for Best International Performance at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas Friday evening. The diminutive singer won for Ministry of Road, making him the second Trinidadian to win the award in consecutive years. Singer Bunji Garlin won the 2013 award with Differentology. It was the third nomination for 39-year-old Montano who has been a dominant figure in soca mus... »
Mike Tyson claims he was sexually abused as a child. The 48-year-old retired boxer was snatched off the street when he was seven by an “old man”, who he never saw again after the shocking one-time incident. Speaking on SiriusXM’s Opie radio show, he said: “He snatched me off the street. I was a little kid … [he was an] old man. He bullied me, sexually abused me... »
JAMAICA-BORN contestant in The Voice, Anita Antoinette has soared to the top of the iTunes reggae 100 chart with Rude (The Voice Performance). The singer’s rendition of Magic!’s Rude surpassed the sales of UB40’s Red Red Wine, who holds the number two spot. In the number three spot is One Day by Matisyahu. Occupying positions four and five are Three Little Birds and Is This Love ... »
DANCEHALL artiste Kalado returned to the island earlier this week after being detained in a Florida jail for roughly two weeks. The entertainer, whose given name is Eton Gordon, was being held on suspicion of immigration fraud. “I have not gotten a chance to speak with him as yet, but I can confirm that he has returned to Jamaica. I am supposed to meet with him today [Friday] so I may have m... »
Richie Stephens continues to benefit internationally from the success of his latest project ‘Everybody Dance,’ which had its world premier on WorldStarHipHop earlier this month. The singer will headline the inaugural One Caribbean Festival, slated for Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, Florida on December 13, alongside, Jamaican Sean Paul, Bunji Garlin, Fayann Lyons and Maxi Pr... »
Dr Kevin Harvey, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health KINGSTON, Jamaica — Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Kevin Harvey is recommending mild exercise for people who are recovering from chikungunya (CHIKV) infection to assist with easing joint pain. He said there are some persons who may also need physiotherapy depending on the severity of the joint pains. “In a maj... »
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Kenneth Cole has opened a boutique in Haiti that the designer says will bring commercial and humanitarian benefit to the poor Caribbean country. The store celebrated its grand opening Thursday in a hotel complex in Petionville. The district in the hills above downtown Port-au-Prince has rebounded from the devastation of the January 2010 earthquake and is now the major ... »
MAVADO is featured on two songs for the soundtrack to the movie Beyond the Lights which is scheduled for release by the Relativity Music Group on November 11. The singjay collaborates with Trinidad-born born rapper Nicki Minaj on both tracks — Give it All to Me and C’mon Boy. Released last year, Give it All to Me is produced by JA Productions. It was a hit locally and did well on Carib... »
JAMAICAN students have dominated the regional ranking in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) June 2014 examinations, copping 161 top-ten positions in 30 subjects, followed by Trinidad & Tobago with 109 positions. The regional ranking shows Jamaican students leading in mathematics, Caribbean history, religious education, and information technology, among other subjects. Caribbe... »
OTTAWA, Canada (CMC) – Canada’s Scotiabank has announced plans to shut or shrink 120 branches, largely in Mexico and the Caribbean, in a bid to save CAN$120 million (One Canadian dollar =US$0.87 cents) annually. The bank said it would close down 35 of its 200 branches in the Caribbean and would sever 1, 500 full-time employees, including 500 from its international operations. “In some of these (Ca... »
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada — Carnival Cruise Lines returned to Grenada for the 2014/2015 cruise season on Tuesday, after an absence of 15 years. The Carnival Splendor berthed for the first time from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm at Melville Street Cruise Terminal with a passenger capacity of 3,002. The return of Carnival Cruise Lines marked a significant achievement of the public-private partnerships and ong... »
Dr. Fenton Ferguson addressing Parliament Jamaica has stepped up its preparedness for the Ebola virus. On Tuesday it was announced that the country now has a fully equipped dedicated treatment centre and another is under construction. Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson, who made the announcement in a statement to Parliament, said an Ebola Control Centre will be established at the Jamaica Defence ... »
STRICTLY The Best, possibly the longest running compilation album in reggae, marks a milestone on November 25. VP Records will release Volumes 50 and 51 of the series. As usual, it showcases some of the most popular dancehall songs of the year as well as classic hits from the Queens, New York label’s vaults. Strictly The Best was first released in 1990. Volumes 1 and 2 featured hits from Fox... »
