Though currently embroiled in a serious legal battle overseas, embattled Dancehall/Reggae superstar, Busy Signal can have something to smile about as support for his most recent album has picked up significantly as of late.
Reggae Music Again, the latest compilation from Busy Signal has enjoyed a recent spike in sales, coinciding with the artiste’s arrest and subsequent extradition to the United States over the last month. VP Records, the distributor of Reggae Music Again insists that the album has vastly improved with relation to sales figures after an initially slow start.
Though not releasing the exact figures, VP Records spokesperson, Michelle Williams intimated that while sales have not dramatically improved, Busy Signal’s appeal as a top quality artiste has been able to draw in more listeners.
Early on, sales numbers for Reggae Music Again were disappointing since its release in April as record sales monitor, the Nielsen SoundScan revealed that the album had sold just over 1,500 copies. This despite the album nabbing a top 10 spot on the U.S. Billboard Reggae chart and featuring notable efforts such as Kingston Town, Come Over (Missing You) and Modern Day Slavery.
The album also features contributions from Penthouse Records hitmaker,Donovan Germain as well as Jukeboxx Productions producer and Busy’s manager, Shane Brown.
Busy Signal is currently languishing in a Minnesota jail after being extradited to the U.S. state last week. The highly acclaimed singjay was initially detained in London after law enforcement officials suspected that Busy had been using false documentation while traveling. He was then deported to Jamaica where he then waived his rights to fight his extradition to America to fight accusations of absconding bail while awaiting a drug trial in 2002.
On Monday, Busy Signal pleaded not guilty to the charge of failure to appear in court and remains in custody.
22-year-old Jamaican singer-songwriter Romain Virgo hits the road on a whirlwind tour stretching across California, Oregon and Washington throughout the rest of June and July. In support of his critically acclaimed albumThe System, Virgo will perform at a variety of club venues with fellow artists Perfect and Prince Allah as well as major festivals – including Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Reggae on The River and Bridge City Music Festival. See Romain Virgo’s full tour schedule below and check www.facebook.com/RomainVirgo for most up-to-date information.
Since its May 8 release, Romain Virgo’s The System (VP Records) has remained at the top of the Billboard Reggae Album chart – where it debuted at #6. Virgo’s second album has been so well-received within the Jamaican diaspora that his recent album launch concert – held on May 30 in Kingston, Jamaica at the Emancipation Park – drew in a massive crowd of nearly 2000 people along with major sponsors like Red Bull, Pepsi and Digicel.
Critics continue to rave about The System – calling Virgo’s
music “striking” (Washington Post), “high-quality” (BBC) and “so present, so affecting” (New York Times). In a recent article, Billboard describes Virgo as “a leading light among a new generation of roots reggae stars” and mentions how he has chosen “empowering messages over misogynistic and violent lyrics, intricately textured one-drop rhythms instead of frenetic digital beats…and found an appreciative, multi-generational audience.”
It has only been five years since Romain Virgo became the youngest winner of TVJ’s popular “Rising Stars” – Jamaica’s equivalent to American Idol. In this short time frame, Romain recorded his debut self-titled album with several chart-topping reggae hits (“Can’t Sleep” and “Wanna Go Home”) and his new album The System. He has won numerous awards within the Caribbean community – including Entertainer of the Year by The Jamaica Recording Industry Association (JaRIA). He made history again as the first Jamaican artist to perform at Academy of Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee – where he sung his Reggae’s Gone Country rendition of “All The Gold In California” alongside original vocalists The Gatlin Brothers.
ROMAIN VIRGO U.S. TOUR DATES:
Sat June 23 @ Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Boonville, CA
Wed Jun 27 @ Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA
Thu Jun 28 @ World Beat Center, San Diego, CA
Fri Jun 29 @ Moe’s Alley, Santa Cruz, CA
Sat Jun 30 @ Wild Mountain Fair Festival, Concow, CA
Sun Jul 1 @ The Shattuck Down Low, Berkeley, CA
Mon Jul 2 @ HopMonk Tavern, Sebastopol, CA
Fri Jul 6 @ Bridge City Music Festival at The Refuge, Portland, OR
Sat Jul 7@ Club Sur, Seattle, WA
Sat Jul 21 @ Reggae On The River, Garberville, CA
VP Records and Subkonshus Music join forces in an exclusive deal to promote Konshens’ chart-topping summer anthem “Gal A Bubble.” The single, from one of hottest emerging dancehall artists, will be featured on VP’stop-selling series Reggae Gold 2012. The label began servicing the song to commercial radio this week.
Konshens’ “Gal A Bubble” is currently sweeping the streets and charts in Jamaica. The track has been consistently selling oniTunes and has landed the #1 spot for the second week in a row on Jamaica’s Weekly Music Countdown Chart by Richie B. The “Gal A Bubble” video has also received almost 1.5 million YouTube views to date.
About Konshens:
Born Garfield Delano Spence in the St. Andrew parish of Jamaica, the multi-talented singer and lyricist got his start while living in Kingston. In 2005, Konshens and his brother Delus formed the musical duo Sojah. Their first single ”Pon Di Corner,” produced by Cash Flow Records, led to the release of two Sojah albums in Japan. As a solo artist, Konshens is known for hits like “Jamaican Dance” (from the video game Just Dance 3), “Do Sum’n,” “The Realest Song,” “Good Girl Gone Bad” with Tarrus Riley and“Winner” (which received a Song Of The Year nomination from Jamaica’s 2008 Hype TV Awards).
Konshens also took home the title of Best New Artist at Jamaica’s Excellence In Music and Entertainment (EME) Awards as well as Stone Love Awards that same year. In February 2012, he released the solo album Mental Maintenance on his own label Subkonshus Music through VPAL distribution. The album has been well received by fans, and critics like BBC raved that the release was “nothing short of essential.”
The Metropolitan police were forced to lock down a show featuring Potential Kidd at the Da Boss Nightclub at Woolwich High Street in London, England on Monday night after the cramped, overcrowded conditions became dangerous for the partygoers themselves.
“The club has a capacity of 2000 persons, and the club was rampacked, and there were at least as many people outside as inside so the police were called in to lock it off because the club was overcrowded,”Potential Kidd’s manager, Angeletta McKenzie sad during an international call on the night the show.
Potential Kidd is in the middle of a 14-gig tour of the United Kingdom that will see him perform at clubs in Nottingham, Birmingham, London, and Brixton over the next couple of weeks.
Potential Kidd burst on the dancehall scene like a surface-to-air missile earlier this year, scorching the airwaves with his catchy singalong single, A Yah Suh Nice, and its raunchier version was a monster hit on mixtapes all over the island. He followed up that success with ‘Urgency’ which racked up over 200,000 hits on youtube.
He then inked a one-year recording deal with VP Records on the strength of his popularity in the underground dancehall market. He suffered a bit of a PR blowback when telecommunications giant cancelled the artiste’s involvement in a Champs promotion which would have required the artiste performing at a school concert because of the suggestive content of the unedited version of Kidd’s single Ah Yah So Nice.
Since then, the artiste has redoubled his efforts in the recording studio to follow up on the success of A Yah Suh Nice. He has a slew of new singles which include God a Come Dung, Mi Tink a Foreign, Tight Tight, How Many Time and Love Mi Mamma.
22-year-old singer-songwriter Romain Virgo announces new U.S. tour dates and the release of his sophomore album The System, available May 8 onVP Records. Romain Virgo delivers a quality set of dynamic, conscious-themed roots and lover’s rock tales on The System. Each song flows seamlessly to the next and shimmers with the vocal delivery of one of Jamaica’s most captivating new voices. Romain teamed up with Jamaica’s top producers on the new album, including Shane Brown (who produced seven of the songs) as well as Donovan Germain and Viking Productions. During the end of April, Romain will embark on a mini U.S. tour run throughout the Northeastern region including shows in New York City, Hartford and Philadelphia.
It has only been five years since Romain Virgo made history as the youngest winner of TVJ’s popular “Rising Stars” – Jamaica’s equivalent to American Idol. In this short time frame, Romain teamed up with reggae producer Donovan Germain to record several chart-topping reggae hits (“Can’t Sleep” and “Wanna Go Home”), released a stellar self-titled debut album with VP, won numerous awards within the Caribbean community and made history as the first Jamaican artist to perform at Academy of Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.
He continues this success with his second full-length release The System. Recorded primarily at the legendary Penthouse Studio, these 15 lyrically sophisticated tracks offer compelling accounts of the challenges of living the ghetto life. Songs like “Minimum Wage”, “Another Day Another Dollar,” Press On” and “Not Today” are clear examples of the struggle that many face on a daily basis. And on the gritty first single “I Know Better,” Romain cautions the youth to refrain from picking up the gun despite their desperate circumstances.
The album would not be complete without a set of Romain’s romantic antics. His ability to swoon the ladies is evident on tracks like the 2011 reggae chart topper “I Am Rich in Love,” “Broken Heart” featuring Busy Signal, the sensuous rub-a-dub tune “Fired Up Inside” and on a rendition of Adele’s haunting “Don’t You Remember,” which is currently receiving rotation in Japan.
Due to the overwhelming response from fans and industry alike, Busy Signal’s benchmark album Reggae Music Again will be available digitally and in stores throughout the Caribbean on April 10. The U.S. in-store release date remains on April 24. This forthcoming album on VP Records shows the dancehall artist in a new light as he pays homage to his roots with a full set of traditional reggae songs.
Better known for his sharp-spitting rhymes on hardcore dancehall hits like “Tic Toc” (remixed by M.I.A. and Rye Rye) and “Wine Pon De Edge,” Busy Signal emerges as a charismatic roots reggae artist. The intricate, multi-layered one-drop rhythms heard on Reggae Music Again werecreated by some of Jamaica’s most acclaimed musicians (Kirk Bennette, Aeion Hoilette, Lamont Savory, Kevon Webster, Robbie Lyn and Dean Fraser), and recorded live at Kingston’s legendary Tuff Gong studios.
Even though this is a stark departure from the sequenced beats that have dominated most of Busy’s previous material, it is not the first time fans will embrace his singing. In 2011, Busy covered the classic country song“The Gambler,” originally sung by Kenny Rogers for the Reggae’s Gone Country compilation, and his ballad-like renditions of the 1985 Commodores’ hit “Night Shift” and Phil Collin’s “One More Night” off his last album D.O.B. were well-received and showed his versatility as an artist. All these songs were catalysts and motivation for his traditional approach heard on Reggae Music Again.
“Being a Jamaican, I feel like it is my duty to highlight and contribute to reggae music, and with the encouragement of my management and musicians who played on this record, it all came together,” states Busy.“This album is like a renaissance for me, a rebirth – reggae style,” he adds.
In addition to the full-length album, VP Records will release a vinyl companion piece, entitled REGGAE Music Dubb’n Again, available April 17, special for Record Store Day on April 21. The exclusive LP will feature extended dub mixes for six of the album’s songs, which are all mixed and engineered by Shane Brown and his legendary father Errol Brown.
In 1998, German sing-jay Gentleman flew to Kingston, Jamaica to further his career in reggae. Seeking recording opportunities, Gentleman called several Kingston based producers via contact information gleaned from the island’s Yellow Pages but only one expressed interest in working with the Cologne-based artist: Richie Stephens. The CEO of Pot of Gold Productions, Stephens, 45, is best known for the robust, soulful vocals that characterize his numerous hit singles over the past twenty years, including the patriotic “Come To Jamaica,” adapted as the official theme for Jamaica’s leg of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, and the 2011 dancehall hit “Born to Love You.”
“Many people from abroad who try to do reggae sound funny but Gentleman’s delivery is very convincing, which got my attention right away. To see where he has reached now tells me I made the right choice in giving him some strength back then,” Stephens recalled in an interview at the Hilton Hotel, Montego Bay following his set at the January 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, which included Gentleman as his special guest.
Richie Stephens (left) and Gentleman perform at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge March 13.
Now a superstar throughout Europe, Gentleman (born Tillman Otto), 36, backed by his 11-piece band Evolution featured Stephens in his New York City debut performance on March 13 at La Poisson Rouge. The show marked the U.S. launch of his fifth studio album Diversity, released stateside on Feb. 14 as a 14-track set on the Queens, New York-based reggae independent VP Records. Originally released in Germany in April 2010 (Island/Universal) as a 28-track double CD, Diversity entered Germany’s Billboard chart at no. 1 and was certified gold for 100,000 units shipped, according to The Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), which represents Germany’s music industry.
” Diversity is my most versatile work to date; it has dancehall, roots reggae, ballads; reggae is the most versatile music so there is no need to jump into other genres,” Gentleman explained while seated alongside Stephens in the lobby of The Hilton. Gentleman’s breakthrough at home arrived with a chorus he delivered in (Jamaican derived) sing-jay style on the 1997 single “Tabula Rasa” by the German hip-hop group Freundeskreis, which reached no. 13 on the German national charts.
Gentleman signed with the Sony subsidiary Four Music and released four albums for the label including Confidence, which was certified platinum by the BVMI in 2007 (more than 200,000 units shipped), prior to signing with Island/Universal in 2010.
Whether from Jamaica or Germany, artists based outside of the U.S. face comparable challenges when attempting to break into the American market, and therefore require similar promotional strategies, notes Aaron Talbert, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at VP Records. “Considering the impact of the internet and Amazon.com on international releases, we are focusing on viral media, especially Facebook and YouTube clips to familiarize North American reggae fans with the continuing story on Gentleman and Diversity with on-tour posts, performance and interview clips forming the various promotional activities we have set up for him,” Talbert commented.
Gentleman’s vocal timbre does not possess the sonic dynamism of Jamaica’s most prominent sing-jays but his ability to consistently engage an audience throughout an hour-long set, as he ably demonstrated at La Poisson Rouge, eclipses many of the island’s dancehall acts. He shared with the near-capacity crowd of approximately 700 the story of Stephens’ encouragement early in his career and their enduring, 14-year friendship. In 2011 Gentleman offered Stephens solace at his Cologne residence following the murder of Stephens’ 22-year-old son Demar Graham, (a.k.a. dancehall artist Copper Cat) outside of his Kingston home on January 21. Later that year Stephens performed with Gentleman on several dates throughout Europe including an appearance at Poland’s Woodstock Festival where they debuted an as of yet unrecorded collaborative tribute to Graham; the overwhelming response from the audience of 700,000 to the majestically arranged “Live Your Life” was highlighted in the video to the single, released in September on Pot of Gold Productions.
Now regarded as an anthem of empowerment, “Live Your Life” has topped several reggae tallies in Jamaica and throughout North America and was named Song of the Year by New York’s Irie Jam radio, which broadcasts various reggae/Jamaican-centric programs for 26 hours weekly on WVIP, 93.5 FM, New Rochelle; the results are based on listener requests throughout the year with input from on-air personalities, explains Irie Jam founder/CEO Bobby Clarke. “It’s a powerful song that is even more compelling when performed live; Gentleman has embraced the Jamaican tradition like his own and I fully endorse what he continues to do internationally for reggae,” says the Jamaican-born Clarke.
Gentleman and Stephens’ subsequent duet, the African-tinged “Warrior” (Pot of Gold Productions) is currently doing well throughout the Caribbean and will soon be targeted to the American and European markets
Neither combination track is included on Diversity but both songs are intended for a forthcoming collaborative album; a joint tour is also planned as each artist’s career has benefitted from their recent partnership: Stephens is enjoying resurgent popularity at home and gaining new fans internationally while Gentleman has attained greater credibility within Jamaica and the Caribbean Diaspora. “I feel like I have reached a new level of acceptance. As a foreigner you struggle with Jamaicans feeling like you are taking their music,” Gentleman acknowledges, “but in Europe I bring reggae to people who see me on TV or hear my album and they start to discover Jamaican artists. Bob Marley already proved reggae has a message that people from different backgrounds can identify with.
Despite more than half of Busy Signal’s upcoming album being leaked online, his manager,Shane Brown, does not believe it will affect the sales significantly. Scheduled to be released officially on April 24, at least 10 songs from Busy Signal’s upcoming 17-track album, titled Reggae Music Again, have been leaked on YouTube recently. Individual full-length tracks were uploaded via various users of the website at the beginning of the month, while a few compilation mixes were posted later.
Some of the songs that were leaked are Reggae Music Again, Sweetest Life, Kingston Town, Jah Love and Wicked Man.
Speaking with Brown, he explained that some members of the press got access to the songs via a stream that was set up with a password so they could get an early listen. He said this was done to help create some buzz around the album but the songs were eventually leaked.
However, he said it is not something to be alarmed about.
“It is not anything big on our side. Sometimes it’s more flattering than anything else. It is an awareness of the album also,” Brown told THE STAR, noting that the only single from the album that was officially released is Come Over.
Brown added that there are some persons who tend to download while others will definitely buy the physical album.
“A lot of people are not buying from our side of the world, yet still you have a lot of people who want to buy it because what is online is not necessarily the best quality,” he said.
Busy Signal’s manager added that VP Records also released an eight-minute long video called ‘Reggae Music Again: Busy thoughts’ in which the artiste spoke about his decision to do the reggae album.
“We put the album out there. You can’t release a project like this without an awareness ’cause this is not the normal Busy album. The response is overwhelming so far. They (public) is just blown away and they can’t wait for it to be released,” he said.
Prominent Reggae songstress, Etana seeks to build on an already accomplished international resume’ as she currently fine-tunes material for her upcoming album.
Most of the tracks for Etana’s yet to be titled third studio album have already been completed and will be shipped off to American based Dancehall/Reggae label, VP Records, who will make the final decisions regarding which singles will make the compilation. The highly regarded songbird hopes to release her album later this year.
Though Etana remains tight-lipped regarding specific collaborations and singles that could feature on her album, industry observers have raved over her joint effort with Reggae veteran and Big Ship captain, Freddie McGregor. Additionally, many of her completed singles feature productions from some of the Dancehall/Reggae industry’s most innovative hit makes including, Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor and former manager,Donovan Germain of Penthouse Records.
In the meantime, Etana continues to appease fans with the pre-release of her single, Beautiful Day, produced by Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor. The song has garnered strong mass airplay and acclaim within the local music industry. She’s also unleashed strong efforts such as her collaboration featuring former Digicel Rising Stars contestant, Jermaine Michael (7 Days) as well as her much talked about effort on the Heart and Soul Riddim entitled Wifey.
Breakout dancehall artist Potential Kidd has reportedly inked a one year deal with independent reggae record label VP Records . The deal was confirmed over the weekend by his management team . Vp records has sign and worked with some of the biggest name’s in reggae and dancehall over the years like Sean Paul, Beenie Man , Elephant Man , Bounty Killer just to name a few
PLATINUM KIDS 