Patrick ‘Black Pearl’ Howell for Grammy Certificate honour

Veteran songwriter, producer, and engineer Patrick ‘Black Pearl’ Howell is among the honourees for this year’s Grammy Certificate Ceremony. With a decades-long career, Howell has established himself as a creative force, both in the studio and on paper. Recognised last year for his co-production work on Yellowman’s Freedom of Speech (1998), which received a Grammy nomination, Howell will now be honoured for his contribution as assistant engineer on Capleton’s Still Blazin’ (2003), which was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

While his Grammy certificates highlight his technical and production achievements, Howell is also respected as a veteran songwriter. His biggest songwriting collaborators include George Nooks, Anthony Cruz, and Chuck Fenda, with whom he has penned a number of impactful reggae anthems. Beyond songwriting, he is perhaps best known as an engineer with King Jammy’s, where his work became part of the sonic blueprint of modern dancehall.

“[Black] Pearl is the archetypal unsung hero. Behind the scenes, everyone in the industry knows him — whether it’s from him being a gifted engineer and songwriter as part of the Jammys camp or a sound engineer at Reggae Sumfest. It is indeed an honour for us to be able to bring him out of the background to shine a bit of a spotlight on him again,” said Kennedy Mensah of Back 2 Da Future Music Ltd. The company is collaborating with The Royalty Network Inc. and Steely & Clevie Productions to host the event.

The Grammy Certificate Ceremony 2025 will celebrate over two dozen honourees whose contributions to Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated projects have too often gone unrecognised. Honourees include Steely & Clevie, Chevelle Franklyn, Dean Fraser, Romain Virgo, Tony Rebel, T.O.K, among others.

entertainment@gleanerjm.com