Emerging Jamaican songstress, Saine is an artist of baring all, physically and musically, to show her artistic prowess. Now, the ‘Guitar Girl’ is pulling the strings on her debut album, aptly titled Naked.

The album, which she hopes to release later this year, showcases an evolution of Saine from a sweet-singing starlet into a more, well-rounded entertainer, willing to push boundaries and express herself in music without apology. She says this album describes such willingness as it showcases her true personality and beliefs in song.

via Saine to bare all on upcoming debut album, ‘Naked’.

Thirty years after reggae was granted Grammy status, a leading music industry player has mixed views on its impact.Maxine Stowe, a Jamaican who has worked with Island Records and Sony Music International, believes the benefits of a Best Reggae Album win depends on the artiste’s reputation.”It does lift the profile in the reggae markets for some winners and is a resume and bio builder,” she said. “Only the winners that are already positioned in the mainstream selling stores would get a sales bump, not any that are just in the ethnic or reggae markets.”

via Few reggae artistes benefit from a Grammy win.

BLACK Uhuru were arguably the biggest act in reggae when they won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording as it was known then for Anthem.It was a worthy victory for the trio of Duckie Simpson, Michael Rose and Puma Jones who had released a series of outstanding songs and albums since 1978.

Those recordings were produced by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare for their Taxi label. With major support from Island Records, albums like Sinsemilla, Red and Chill Out made the trio superstars in Asia and Europe

via Black Uhuru makes an Anthem – Entertainment – JamaicaObserver.com.

‘War’ was declared between Lady Saw and Macka Diamond and in the end Saw was the last diva standing at Sting Thursday night.

“Send out the mongrel a whe she de,” Saw hurled out on the microphone as she challenged Macka to the clash.

via Lady Saw crushes Macka, last diva standing at Sting.

There was pandemonium across the Corporate Area Tuesday night as Jamaicans celebrated widely following Tessanne Chin’s victory in The Voice.

Chin defeated her strongest rivals Jacquie Lee and Will Champlin to capture the top position in the popular NBC talent competition.

via Wild celebration as Tessanne wins The Voice.

Jamaican back-up singer Tessanne Chin will be singing lead from now on: She beat out 16-year-old Colts Neck powerhouse Jacquie Lee and Los Angeles musician Will Champlin, 30, in the fifth season of “The Voice” Tuesday night.

In her audition, Tessanne, a 28-year-old vocalist who has toured with reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, had impressed the show’s four coaches with her powerful pipes and pinpoint precision. All four clamored to be her mentor, but she chose Adam Levine, who played to her Jamaican roots with some reggae song choices. But her performance of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” last week cemented her frontrunner status.

via The Voice 2013 winner: Tessanne Chin takes the season 5 crown.

Speaking to Word Is a few hours after landing into the country on Thursday, the Jamaican star said that he has yet to settle on a specific artiste. Adding that he regards Wyre very highly and considers him as the best artiste he can work with in Kenya right now. He expressed his desire to record with the Uprising hit-maker. “I consider working with every artiste as long as we work on some good music. Not just in Kenya but from anywhere in the world, simply because I love music. I met Wyre when he came to Jamaica and together we did like an acoustic and a performance at Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong studios and it felt so cool. Wyre’s music is not the ordinary stereo-type kind of music that’s just beats and blah…blah…blah. It has class and quality,” he said.

via allAfrica.com: Kenya: Jamaican Reggae Star Tarrus Riley Hails Wyre.

TO SAY it was a surprise to get an interview with Vybz Kartel would be an understatement.

Even upon hearing that the dancehall superstar would be doing press to support his new album, there was reason to be sceptical. After all, he is behind bars – where he’s been for the past two years – awaiting trial for murder. In such circumstances, it would be fair to assume that media duties wouldn’t be at the top of his priorities.

But on the contrary, the Jamaican deejay born Adidja Palmer, was keen to speak out about what he describes as the “injustice” of the Jamaican legal system, and the “repetition” of life behind bars.

via Vybz Kartel: Dancehall is in jail.

NEO-ROOTS singer Etana says she will part ways with VP Records after her next album for the Queens, New York label.

“I have one more album left with VP. After that album, I will no longer be a VP artiste as our agreement would have expired. I plan to release single after single, do my own videos, tour extensively and stay current,” she told Splash in an e-mail response.

via One more VP album for Etana.

Despite quality music being produced as part of Reggae music’s apparent renaissance, many of Jamaica’s top Reggae acts continue to garner paltry album sales figures in the American market, with Grammy-winning singjay, Shaggy becoming the latest victim of this downward trend.

According to reports Friday, Out of Many One Music, the new Sly and Robbie-produced album released by Shaggy has struggled to make headway since its unveiling on Sept. 24, only selling 741 copies in its first week, according to the Nielsen Soundscan, while placing third on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.

via Shaggy’s new album flops early on as Reggae projects struggle to sell in U.S..