Posted by Yardie Luke on October 10, 2010 under Famous Jamaicans | Comments are off for this article
ALTON ELLIS, the west Kingston balladeer who defined the lovers’ rock genre, died Friday evening [Oct 10] at age 70. The singer succumbed to a 10-month fight with lymphatic cancer.
Sandra Ellis, one of his children, told The Sunday Gleaner that her father passed away at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, where he had been receiving treatment for the past two weeks.
Ellis had been diagnosed with cancer of the lymph glands in December 2007.
No singer had more success on Jamaican charts during the 1960s than the Trench Town-born Ellis whose first hit song was Muriel, which was done with Eddie Perkins.
Throughout the 1960s, Ellis recorded a series of ska hits for rival producers Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid and Clement Dodd. These included Dancecrasher, Girl I’ve Got a Date, I’m Just a Guy and I’m Still in Love.
He immigrated to England in the early 1970s where he remained active musically. He enjoyed a career resurgence in the 1990s when there was a rocksteady revival in Jamaica and Europe.
In 2003, dancehall superstar Sean Paul and singer Sasha had a minor hit in the United States with their cover of I’m Still in Love.
Ellis, who last performed here in June, is survived by wife Judith and over 20 children. SOURCE
Posted by Yardie Luke on September 28, 2010 under Famous Jamaicans | Comments are off for this article
Despite his current incarceration, Buju Banton was heavily involved in putting together this latest album, Before The Dawn. From choosing the final track listing and labouring over the phone with the producers and engineers to get the mixes just right, as well as to conceptualising the project’s distinguished packaging, was the level of his involvement.
Hard copies of the album contain a special note written from inside the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida, where he has been housed for the past nine months.
Before The Dawn will drop in North America and Japan today. The release date for the UK and France has been set for October 4, however, it will be available in the rest of Europe a few days earlier from October 1. Fans around the world may pre-order the album now on both iTunes and Amazon.com.
The ninth studio album by the international musician, Before The Dawn boasts 10 tracks that comprise some of the most powerful songs written by Banton since his professional entry into the music business over twenty years ago.
Recorded at Banton’s own Gargamel Music studio in Kingston, Jamaica, Before The Dawn is said to contain the traditional roots Reggae sound on the track Do Good, a little classic rock on the tune No Smoking At All, and deep reggae on Battered & Bruised. Buju’s handlers have named the track Innocent as the album’s unofficial anthem, which they claim strikes a highly personal chord that is hoped will resonate deeply with the artiste’s long-time fans. SOURCE:Jamaica Observer
Posted by Yardie Luke on September 20, 2010 under Famous Jamaicans | Comments are off for this article
Hello My Caribbean Friends
I invite you to join me in listening to “The Open Mic” show aired at lunchtime 12 noon to 12:59 pm (Eastern Time). If you are in Dade, Broward or Palm Beach county you can tune in to 1170 AM. If you are out of the listening area you can hear the show online at WAVS1170.com.
The host of the show is famous Jamaican radio personality Winston Barnes. The show is educational and seeks to inform the audience on politics, finance, health, music and entertainment, travel and sports.
Recent shows have revealed information on loan modification fraud, mortgage reduction, the health on the banking industry, politics in Jamaica and the US and crime in Jamaica.
Most of us first heard of the passing of “Arrow” on The Open Mic show last Wednesday.
Join me in congratulating the beautiful and dashing Yendi Phillipps who was last night’s first runner-up in the Miss Universe 2010 Pageant. Although many of us thought she was more than qualified to take the top spot we are proud of her accomplishments and we wish her continued success in all her endeavours.
The lovely Yendi Phillipps holds the titles Miss Jamaica World 2007 and Miss Jamaica Universe 2010.
Miss Phillipps has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the State University of New York at Brockport and a Master’s degree in Recreation and Leisure Management.
Miss Phillipps is a former host of Digicel Rising Stars.
..as featured on CNN iReport and Fox News 5 Atlanta
Jamaican family living in the United States think they have figured out a way to stop the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
Errold Webb and two of his children, 11-year-old Nathan and 10-year-old Imani, propose that the blown out well can be effectively plugged using the principle of buoyancy, and it took them only two hours, doing what they described as a “fun summer project”, to construct a model demonstrating their idea.
“We came up with what we think is a brilliant idea,” Webb told the Sunday Observer from his home in Atlanta.
On the urging of his wife Nadine, daddy Webb and his two eldest children used a fish tank they had at home, and inexpensive parts sourced from the Dollar store, to build the model.
In a video they posted on public video-sharing website YouTube, the children explained the procedure.
“By using a buoyancy plug we are able to supply sufficient force to plug the leak. The downward force is created by using air filled buoyant containers below the surface of the water connected with a cord which goes around pulleys anchored to the ocean floor which are then connected to the plug.
“Both containers are the same size and an equal distance away from each other, creating equal force and stability,” Nathan said in the three-minute video.
“In our experiment, the plug we used was the tip of a mechanical pencil and we sealed the hole with wax,” Imani added, speaking from a script she and her brother worked on with both their parents.
Posted by Yardie Luke on May 5, 2010 under Famous Jamaicans | Comments are off for this article
Apparently the impending sale of Air Jamaica was too stressful for Air Jamaica pilot and past president of the Jamaican Airline Pilots’ Association (JALPA) Captain Russell Capleton.
On the Tuesday night May 4, Captain Capleton died of a massive heart attack, just four days after his position was made redundant from the company he served for the last 30 years.
Just days earlier he had flown his last Air Jamaica flight from Philadelphia to Kingson.
Posted by Yardie Luke on February 3, 2010 under Famous Jamaicans | Comments are off for this article
Jamaican icon Professor Rex Nettleford, died in the George Washington University Intensive Care Unit at 8:00 pm Tuesday February 2, on the eve of his 77th birthday.
Professor Nettleford is best known as a founder of the National Dance Theater Company (NDTC) of Jamaica, which was established in 1962, the same year Jamaica gained independence from Britain.
For details of the life and work of Professor Rex Nettleford click here.
Comments are off for this article 
. From choosing the final track listing and labouring over the phone with the producers and engineers to get the mixes just right, as well as to conceptualising the project’s distinguished packaging, was the level of his involvement.
