Alicia Keys Set To Release Unplugged Record Just when you’ve had enough of Alicia Keys and her piano, she’s back — and this time, she’s unplugged.

Jamaica Gleaner – Music mogul optimistic He has earned his reputation as the successful businessman who took Bob Marley and reggae music to the world. Chris Blackwell, O.J., is founder of Island Records, Palm Pictures and the Island Outpost Group, as well as the owner of some choice resort properties in Jamaica and Harbour Island [...]

The Skatalites The Skatalites are living musical legends, founding fathers of the modern Jamaican sound. Four decades ago, the group virtually invented ska, the upbeat dance music that spawned rock steady and reggae, and inspired three waves of British and American ska revivalists. A triumphal 1983 reunion performance at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival eventually inspired [...]

Catch the Riddim With the assistance of noted producer Tad A Dawkins, George Nooks has assembled an album which pays tribute to the late Crown Prince of Reggae, Dennis Brown. The album, titled George Nooks Sings Dennis Brown: The Voice Lives On, is due for release next month.

Beenie Man Catches a Fire 2005-08-03 It took him just shy of a full year, but dancehall titan Beenie Man finally took a Bay Area stage in late July, rocking Berkeley’s Shattuck Down Low for two straight nights despite the best efforts of infuriated gay-rights activists and a hilariously brazen con-man promoter. You may recall [...]

Musical fusion When the Latin hip-hop fusion called reggaeton began popping up on urban stations a couple of years ago, few sensed the start of a trend. If anything, the bouncy but simple Spanish-language music sounded like a novelty: the “Macarena” of the new millennium, perhaps. Then, the Daddy Yankee tune “Gasolina” began flooding the [...]

Reggaeton – The Story So Far.. …If you’re feeling poetic, you could call reggeaton a homage to the first Jamaicans who were taken to Panama in the early 1900s to build the Canal, and paid the price in blood and tears. These canal workers were also the first to bring the sounds of Jamaica to [...]

The queen of reggaeton Known for her brash attitude, distinctive throaty voice and lyrics of female empowerment, Ivy (pronounced Eve-y) Queen has made her mark in the Latin music world as a bona fide reggaeton superstar. The 33-year-old Puerto Rican rapper, a.k.a. Martha Ivelisse Pesante, is the only woman to break into the male-dominated up-and-coming [...]

Sean Paul readies The Trinity The new Sean Paul album will be titled The Trinity. Recorded entirely in Jamaica, The Trinity will be the follow-up to his 6 million selling second album ‘Dutty Rock’.

Sinead O’Connor Reflects on First Reggae Album Sinead O’Connor, who has recorded her first reggae album, “Throw Down Your Arms,” said she has found solace in Jamaican music and the Rastafarian faith. “To me, I have not made a reggae record, I’ve made a Rasta record,” O’Connor said Monday night at a launch party for [...]