Category Archives: Read by Volume/Issue/Year

Articles & more by each Volume/Issue/Year

Read by Volume/Issue/Year, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 9-1991, Yard Report

Sonia Pottinger – Reggae’s Female Producer 1991

The Music of Sonia Pottinger–High Note & Gay Feet   V9#3 1991

(2020 Update below)

By Lee O’Neill

producer sonia pottinger
Sonia Pottinger, Reggae’s first female producer

Many consider the mid-to-late sixties the golden age of Jamaican music. As the early Ska beat was changing into what would become Reggae, artists such as Ken Boothe, The Paragons, Alton Ellis, the Techniques, and the Gaylads were making hit after classic hit, and producers like Clement Dodd, Duke Reid, and Clancy Eccles were busy making bundles of money while defining the sound of Reggae music.

One of the most successful of these early producers was Sonia Pottinger, owner of the Gayfeet and High Note labels, possessor of a keen commercial sense and artist’s touch in the studio. Some of Reggae’s greatest songs were released on her label. Until recently, Pottinger’s reputation was in danger of disappearing. New anthologies of Pottinger productions on Heartbeat (Musical Feast) and Trojan (Put on Your Best Dress) join a few scattered tracks on anthologies, reissues of two of the Culture albums she produced, and some out-of-print Jamaican LPs, in a growing tribute to her talent Continue reading →

Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

SPRAGGA BENZ – 1995

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SPRAGGA BENZ – Rising Star

by Yasmine Peru

Although ace DJ, Carlton “Spragga Benz” Grant has been on the music scene for less than two years, he has had mega hits with his first singles (“Jock it Up” and “Girls Horray”) and has recently been signed to Capitol Records in what has been hailed in the music industry as “historic.” Through it all, Spragga has managed to remain a humble youth with both feet placed firmly on the ground. “I’m just a normal person like everybody else,” he declared.

For Carlos, as he is affectionately called at home, being introduced to Stacy Greenberg from Capitol Records at the Cactus nightclub in Portmore was the first step towards getting signed. Stacy, he said, had heard New York DJ Dahved Levi playing some of his songs and really became inspired. She came to Jamaica in March of last year in search of him; he went to L.A. shortly after, and the rest, they say, is history. Continue reading →

Bands & Groups - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

INNER CIRCLE GRAMMY NOD V13#2 1995

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2019 UPDATE: Congratulations to brothers Ian and Roger Lewis, co-founders of the Grammy-winning band Inner Circle, on receiving Jamaica’s Order of Distinction (the government’s sixth-highest civic honor) at a King’s House ceremony on October 21, 2019, in Kingston. Honored for Inner Circle’s more than 50-year musical contributions, their iconic lead singer Jacob Miller was also recognized and awarded, and his son Taki Miller accepted posthumously on his behalf.

Here is a Reggae Report interview and story by writer and editor Sara Gurgen after catching up with bandleader Roger Lewis following Inner Circle’s 1994 Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album (they won that Grammy in 1993!)

INNER CIRCLE – Miami’s “Bad Boys” Nominated for ’94 Grammy

by Sara Gurgen

They won the Grammy for best 1993 Reggae album, and now Inner Circle–Miami’s world-famous, hard-working “Bad Boys” of Reggae–have been nominated for the 1994 Grammy with their latest Big Beat/Atlantic release, Reggae Dancer.

“It’s doing excellent, man, everywhere in the world; and when I mean excellent, I mean excellent,” said band leader and rhythm guitarist, Roger Lewis, in a recent Miami interview during a brief respite from Inner Circle’s hectic touring schedule.

“It is one of the biggest selling foreign albums in Japan. Over 300,000 albums [have sold] in Japan [as of Dec. 21]. Hundreds of thousands in Mexico. In Brazil, in Europe–very well. In America, it’s not doing too bad. I think we made it up to about 200,000 copies.”

One of the songs on the album that has been released worldwide and doing very well is “Games People Play.” “It was not really a success in America, but ‘Games People Play’ was literally a hit single everywhere else in the world,” explained Roger. “It was a top 10 song in about 10 countries in Europe. It didn’t really go No. 1 and do what “Sweat” did, but it was top 10 in Holland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Brazil; and it was No. 1 in Japan.” Continue reading →

Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

Capleton – The Prophet “Pon Tour” – V13#1 1995

CAPLETON  – THE PROPHET ‘PON “TOUR”
by Patricia Meschino

The imposing stage at Jamworld, St. Catherine, Jamaica, the largest open air entertainment center in the Caribbean and occasional home of Sting and former home of Reggae Sunsplash, is a challenge for any musical artist. When an entertainer fails to meet audience expectations there, the repercussions are greatly magnified; but when an artist delivers spectacularly, the effects seem to reverberate all the way to the island’s north coast!

While Sunsplash ’94 was, as a whole, not as successful as previous years, the five-day event nonetheless produced some unforgettable musical moments that are still being talked about. On Dancehall Night, the performance most “Splashers” are still raving about came from Capleton.

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Bands & Groups - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

Inner Circle – ’94 Grammy Nomination – V13#02 1995

Miami’s “Bad Boys” Nominated for ’94 Grammy
by Sara Gurgen

They won the Grammy for best 1993 Reggae album, and now Inner Circle–Miami’s world famous, hard-working “Bad Boys” of Reggae–have been nominated for the 1994 Grammy with their latest Big Beat/Atlantic release, Reggae Dancer.

“It’s doing excellent, man, everywhere in the world; and when I mean excellent, I mean excellent,” said band leader and rhythm guitarist, Roger Lewis, in a recent Miami interview during a brief respite from Inner Circle’s hectic touring schedule. “It is one of the biggest selling foreign albums in Japan. Over 300,000 albums [have sold] in Japan [as of Dec. 21]. Hundreds of thousands in Mexico. In Brazil, in Europe–very well. In America, it’s not doing too bad. I think we made it up to about 200,000 copies.”

INNER CIRCLE
INNER CIRCLE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

Musical Forecast: Look for Snow V13#3 1995

by Patricia Meschino

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SNOW – 1996 Reggae Report Calendar – October

One of the most satisfying cuts on Canadian DJ Snow’s new release, Murder Love, is a tale of his love affair with Reggae music called “Dream.” Here Snow reminisces about his days in Toronto’s Allenbury housing project, where he first became acquainted with Reggae through the friendships formed with the many Jamaicans who had moved into his area: Listen Shabba Ranks playing faintly from the speaker/I would eat mi curry chicken, that’s my favorite supper/If you think mi joke or lie, gwaan ask me mother/I would living on the island sweet, sweet Jamaica/Fish with Coco Tea down in the river/Hanging at the ghetto with me boy they call Ninja/No, but it’s only a dream. Continue reading →

Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 12-1994

Pato Banton – V12#09 1994 Interview

GIVING THANKS STILL     

by Matthew G. Wallace

HS-Pato.Banton bday smallPato Banton and I are sitting atop the roof of the club where he is scheduled to perform in a few hours. Rather than conduct our interview in a stuffy tour bus or shout over the sound check taking place below, he obliges as I lead him through a cluttered storage room and up a make-shift ladder better suited for an acrobat than one of the most recognized names in Reggae. Below us, the seven members of his band, The Reggae Revolution, are tuning up and, one by one, joining in on a smoldering Dub of “Satta Amassagana.” We are watching a beautiful, and especially long, Santa Barbara sunset as the moon climbs high over the Pacific Ocean a few blocks away. He is nearing the end of an extensive three-month tour and looks forward to spending some time at home with his wife and two children, who are back in England. A few weeks away from his 33rd birthday, he seems as energetic and upful as ever.

Energetic and upful seem to define Pato Banton. He is like a constant whirlwind of touring and recording. As we sat down to talk, he is finishing up yet another North America tour, promoting a greatest hits package called Collections for long-time label, I.R.S. Records, and anticipating the worldwide release of the video for the album’s first song, “Baby Come Back” (a duet with bredren Robin and Ali Campbell of UB40).

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