Tinga Stewart

Tinga Stewart (born Neville Stewart, c. 3 July 1950, Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer. Stewart won the Festival Song Contest three times, twice as a singer and once as a songwriter.

Biography

Stewart's career began in the late 1960s, his first single being 1969's "She's Gone", with Ernest Wilson of The Clarendonians. He worked with producer Derrick Harriott in the early 1970s, with releases such as "Hear That Train", and performed on the PNP bandwagon in 1971, in support of Michael Manley's election campaign. He sang with The Wildcats, Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, and The Boris Gardiner Happening, then went solo and had a local hit in 1973 with "Funny Feeling", and won the 1974 Festival Song Contest with Ernie Smith's "Play de Music", which went on to become a hit in both the Jamaican chart and the United Kingdom reggae chart. The following year, Tinga wrote "Hooray Festival" with Willie Lindo, the entry sung by his brother Roman Stewart, which also won. This success led to releases in the UK on the Opal label, but the brothers' festival success hampered their early careers, with them being regarded as 'festival singers', and Tinga stated in 2012 "I almost lost my...

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