1 month ago
5
From its inception, R&B has been a staple on the Reggae Sumfest line-up, where Ben E. King and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes performed at the first ever staging in August 1993, held at the Bob Marley Entertainment Centre in Catherine Hall.
In 1998, Boyz II Men became the first ‘90s contemporary R&B act to headline the festival. They were booked alongside fellow R&B group K-Ci & JoJo, who were on tour with them at this time. This billing marked a turning point in the festival’s history. As one of the festival’s organisers, Johnny Gourzong told The Gleaner in 2013 that they had to reposition the festival, which included “presenting the best reggae acts across the globe and the top-charting hip-hop and R&B acts”.
Boyz II Men’s performance has been one of the festival’s most lauded. As The Gleaner reported in a July 13, 2016, article: “While primarily a reggae festival, Reggae Sumfest has had a long history of showcasing the megastars of other genres. In fact, fans still argue that the greatest performance in the annals of the festival was given by a non-reggae act. The performance in question was the smashing set played in 1998 by the incredible R&B trio, Boyz II Men, who answered the call of the promoter to add a fresh flavour to the event by delivering a blockbuster one-hour-plus set, which not only had the fans dazzled, if not totally mesmerised, but also made an indelible mark on the history of the event”.
As one avid festival goer, Sharon Williams, told this newspaper: “Who could ever forget that amazing Boyz II Men performance? ... . It was out of this world ... the crisp vocals, the dance moves, the stage presence ...”. A year later, The Temptations, one of the pioneers of the Black American-founded genre, performed at the festival’s Vintage Night.
In 2001, Alicia Keys performed at the festival to the delight of patrons. The singer was coming off the heels of her smash hit, Fallin’. In what was her first performance on the island, she told The Gleaner that she felt a special connection with the audience and that “this sort of adulation makes me feel like a queen”.
10 OUT OF 10
Destiny’s Child ended their year-long hiatus when they performed at the festival’s 11th staging in 2003. Opening their performance with Independent Women: Part II, their set saw each member taking turns to perform solo releases. Most notably, Sean Paul joined the group on stage to perform Baby Boy, with Beyoncé. In the aftermath of their performance, the late Robert Russell, one of the founders of Sumfest, told The Gleaner of the group’s performance: “The dancing ... the vocals ... the commanding presence ... what more could you ask for ... I would give them a perfect 10 out of 10”.
A year later, the festival followed up their R&B connection by booking Lionel Ritchie. The musician, who got his musical rise with The Commodores, delivered a set that The Gleaner described as being “arguably the most impressive performance of Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest 2004”.
In 2005, the festival booked Black American R&B singer and dancer Ciara. That year’s staging, whose theme was ‘Festival of Peace’, also saw the Senegalese-American R&B singer, Akon, performing. A year later, in July, future multigenre pop sensation Rihanna would perform at the festival. The Bajan, who would go on to release several pop and R&B hits, had recently released her second album - A Girl Like Me, which featured Sean Paul on the track, Break It Off.
In 2007, R&B icon Mary J. Blige headlined the festival. In 2008, T-Pain was one of several international acts that performed at the festival. Akon also returned. Then in 2009, a slew of R&B acts, including Ne-Yo, Keri Hilson, and Toni Braxton, performed at the show. In 2010, it was Usher who headlined the festival. The R&B icon had one of the most lauded moments in the festival’s history when he engaged in a dance-off with Chris Brown, where Elephant Man acted as the choreographer.
In 2011, it was announced that R. Kelly would be one of the headline acts for the festival. However, the controversial R&B crooner could not make the festival due to an emergency throat operation. A year later, he performed at Sumfest.
In 2013, the organisers faced criticism for including non-reggae acts at the festival. As Nathan Robb, one of the festival organisers, told the audience at the 2013 International Reggae Conference panel held at The University of the West Indies, Mona campus: “We have been taken to task for having overseas artistes”.
Despite these complaints, R&B singer Miguel was one of the headline acts at the festival that year. The Gleaner reviewed his performance as being “passionate”. As the R&B crooner told the newspaper after his performance, “I wanted to come here to make sure they understand that I am a very passionate person, and hopefully, they at least, if nothing else, felt that. And I think at the end of the show they really got that, and I’m excited because, you know, it’s not an easy crowd to please — and that’s good. It shouldn’t be. Like I said, because of the music and the culture that is here [they are discerning], so it’s an honour”
This “not easily impressed” reputation of Jamaicans towards international acts was universally known. In 2009, Ne-Yo, on the eve of his performance at Sumfest, told The Gleaner: “You know what I like most about the Jamaican audience is that it’s very honest. If they don’t like what you’re doing, they’re gonna let you know”.
A year later, Jason Derulo, who has several R&B singles in his catalogue, was one of the international acts who performed at the show. Jennifer Hudson would follow in 2015. The powerhouse singer would invite Allison Roberts, winner of Digicel’s social media competition, on stage to perform a duet of Spotlight, to the delight of the audience, who sang every lyric word for word.
Still, Hudson’s performance at the festival was the last international R&B act to perform at Sumfest in close to a decade. In April 2016, it was announced that DownSound Records CEO Joe Bogdanovich had acquired ownership of the Reggae Sumfest brand. In his capacity as the head promoter, he stated that there would be no international night that year and thus no international act performing. The festival was also scaled down from three to two nights and would have a Dancehall Night and a Reggae Night. The reason for this, according to Bogdanovich, was financial. As he told THE STAR in a May 11, 2016, article: “The kind of cost and money that is spent on international acts has become prohibitive. We’d rather not spend money on the outside but to support our own.”
It was not until 2024 that an international act would headline the line-up, and ironically, it was an R&B legend: Babyface. It marked the 12-time Grammy winner’s fourth performance on the island. Last year’s staging also contained a musical historic moment. Back in 1999, Gourzong told The Gleaner that he and his colleagues were trying in earnest to get one of the world’s biggest musical stars on the show: Ms Lauryn Hill. As he told The Gleaner in a February 17, 1999, article: “Lauryn Hill is currently one of the top acts on the international circuit and it would be a big honour to have her appearing on Sumfest ‘99”.
However, the booking never materialised. As such, when the R&B and rap legend made a surprise appearance during her son, YG Marley’s, set, it was one of the most lauded performances of last year’s staging. As Russell stated, “Tonight is a historic event. The people went crazy... The crowd loved her. Her presence here made the show ... Her energy and the fact that the people were so welcoming to her – it’s like they were waiting on her for a long time. And they sang along. It was like a really big party”.
Nevertheless, this year’s staging would continue the re-emergence of R&B on the festival’s line-up, where Toni Braxton is the headline act for Night Two. It will mark the end of her more than 10-year performance hiatus on the island.
Still, R&B, like reggae and dancehall, is one of the world’s most popular musical genres, where it is created and mostly propelled by black people. As such, it is symbolic that Reggae Sumfest, which has billed itself as “the greatest reggae/dancehall show on Earth”, has continued to build upon the tradition of booking the top acts in the genre.
J. T. Davy is a member of Tenement Yaad Media, where she writes and co-produces their popular historical podcast, ‘Lest We Forget’. Send feedback to jordpilot@hotmail.com and entertainment@gleanerjm.com.
English (US) ·