News archive — page 2
Music Lieutenant Stitchie, the Spanish Town Deejay Who Took Dancehall to Atlantic and Then to the Church, Dies at 60
Cleveland ‘Cleve’ Laing, known to Jamaica as Lieutenant Stitchie and later simply Stitchie, died on Monday, September 28, 2026, at Kingston Public Hospital, the Jamaica Observer, RJR News and Reggaeville report. He was 60, one day short of his 61st birthday. The schoolteacher-turned-deejay broke out of Spanish Town’s sound-system scene with ‘Wear Yuh Size’ in 1986, was one of the first dancehall acts signed to a major label, and after a 1997 car crash rebuilt his career as a gospel reggae minister. He had been ailing since a stroke in September 2024.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Spragga Benz Reloads Endeavors: Kingston Album Launch Set for Jammin on the Oasis, September 30
Out since 28 August 2026, Endeavors Reloaded reopens last year's Endeavors as a 13-track duet record — Sean Paul, Tarrus Riley, Sizzla, I Wayne, Agent Sasco, Stonebwoy, JC Lodge, Echo Minott and a posthumous Cocoa Tea among the guests. Spragga Benz toasts it in Kingston on Wednesday.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Blvk H3ro Sets ‘Strictly Good Vibes Vol. 1’ for October 2, Then Takes the Vibes Up the West Coast
The Grammy-nominated Portmore singer releases Strictly Good Vibes Vol. 1 — a 13-track capsule of a year’s worth of music — on Diaspora Sound / Boomyard. All tracks are in the Listen library now, sourced from his official YouTube channel. The night after it lands he opens the Strictly Good Vibes Tour at Gold-Diggers in Los Angeles, with Ukiah, Santa Cruz, Reno and Pacifica to follow.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Cali P Opens the iThoughts 10-Year Deluxe With ‘This Train,’ a Roots Cut Produced by AEMKA
The Guadeloupe-born, Switzerland-based reggae singer’s first single from the anniversary deluxe of his Billboard-charting iThoughts album landed September 25, 2026 via Mouthwatering / Home Crowd — resilience and faith on a warm roots riddim.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Damian Marley Headlines City Splash 2027 at Brockwell Park
City Splash returns to South London on Bank Holiday Monday, 31 May 2027, with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley topping the first-wave bill alongside Dexta Daps, Skillibeng, Wayne Wonder, Stefflon Don, Warrior King, DJ Tunez and DJ Puffy — plus Channel One, Saxon Sound, Rampage Sound and a deep soundsystem cast. Tickets at city-splash.com.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Protoje Premieres ‘Love Overflow’ Video, Skated Through Addis Ababa With the Addis Girls Skate Team
The Official Video for Love Overflow — track 12 on The Art of Acceptance — premiered September 24, 2026. Filmed in Ethiopia’s capital with young skaters claiming space in their city, Diggy frames the cut as planting trees for the youth.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Shenseea Leads Dancehall and Lila Iké Tops Reggae at the 2026 Caribbean Music Awards in Trinidad
At the fourth Caribbean Music Awards — the first staged in the region, at NAPA in Port of Spain on September 19, 2026 — Shenseea took Female Dancehall Artist of the Year plus Dancehall Song and Collaboration of the Year for the ‘Shake It to the Max (FLY)’ remix with MOLIY, Silent Addy and Skillibeng. Lila Iké was named Female Reggae Artist of the Year again and won Reggae Collaboration of the Year for ‘Romantic’ with Masicka. Buju Banton, Chronixx, Protoje and Keznamdi rounded out a strong Jamaican reggae showing.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Jackie Jackson, the Bass Behind Toots and the Maytals and a Generation of Jamaican Hits, Dies at 79
Clifton ‘Jackie’ Jackson died on the morning of Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay after a hospitalisation that began in July, the Gleaner and Jamaica Observer report. For more than 50 years his bass anchored Toots and the Maytals; before that it carried rocksteady out of Treasure Isle and onto Leslie Kong-produced records by Desmond Dekker, The Melodians and Jimmy Cliff, and Paul Simon’s ‘Mother and Child Reunion.’ He was predeceased by his wife, singer Karen Smith, and leaves four daughters.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Jah Decko Opens 2027 Tour Bookings Behind ‘Love Who Loves You Back,’ His First English-Language Album
Suriname-born, Amsterdam-based roots reggae singer and producer Darl Douglas — Jah Decko — sets an October 5, 2026 album date and invites festival and club bookers for 2027, after years producing for Joggo, Ziggi Recado and Miriam Simone.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Shaggy Raises the Stakes on ‘Lottery 4.0,’ an Official Remix With Jeremih, Rick Ross and Skillibeng
Out Friday, September 18, 2026 through Ranch Entertainment and VP Records, the remix keeps the Shaggy–Jeremih pairing from the title track of May’s ‘Lottery’ album and adds Rick Ross and Skillibeng. Four voices, four lanes — reggae, dancehall, hip hop and R&B — on one record. Press play: the official audio is in the Listen library.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Anthony B Returns With ‘World of Love,’ a 16-Track Album Featuring Gentleman and Queen Omega
Thirty years on from ‘Fire Pon Rome,’ the Trelawny-born chanter released World of Love on September 4, 2026 through Ineffable Records — roots, lovers rock and dancehall across 16 tracks, with Gentleman, Queen Omega, Mo’Kalamity, FIA, Shuga and Jazzwad along for the ride.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Masicka Sells Out Barclays Center: A First Solo Arena Headline for the Portmore Deejay, One Day After ‘Forever Reign’
Reggae Fest Presents Masicka filled Brooklyn’s 18,000-capacity arena on Saturday, August 15, 2026, with Tarrus Riley, Keznamdi, Elephant Man, I-Octane, Vanessa Bling, Lola Brooke and Swizz Beatz joining him on stage. The set leaned on the hits — ‘Whites,’ ‘They Don’t Know,’ ‘Suicide Note’ — and previewed just one song from the new album.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Masicka Releases ‘Forever Reign,’ His Third Album, With Damian Marley, Lila Iké, Kraff Gad and Blaqbonez
Out August 14, 2026 on Def Jam, the 17-track set opens with the Jr. Gong collaboration ‘1 Psalm’ and folds in the 2026 hits ‘Boasty’ and ‘Slip & Slide.’ ‘Forever Reign means I’m here to stay,’ says the Portmore deejay, who headlines Barclays Center tomorrow night.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Reggae Sumfest Gaza and Gully on One Stage: Vybz Kartel and Mavado Close a One-Night ‘Taste of Reggae Sumfest’ at Plantation Cove
With Catherine Hall still recovering from Hurricane Melissa, Sumfest condensed to a single night in St Ann on Saturday, July 18, 2026. Shortly after 2 a.m. Kartel, in camouflage, and Mavado, in black, revisited their Sting 2008 wardrobe and traded hits for the better part of two hours — Mavado’s first Jamaican show in more than a decade — before closing on their first collaboration, ‘Happiest Days.’
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Fantan Mojah, the ‘Hail the King’ Singer, Dies at 49 Weeks Before His 50th Birthday
Owen ‘Fantan Mojah’ Moncrieffe died at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston on the evening of Tuesday, July 14, 2026, of heart-related complications, his booking agent said. The St Elizabeth-born singer had been hospitalised in Martinique in 2024 with his heart reportedly working at 15 per cent, recovered enough to tour Europe, and was preparing for Reggae Jam in Germany.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music ‘God and Time’: Vybz Kartel Returns to Conscious Dancehall with a Thirteen-Track Album, June 2026
Released in June 2026 through Vybz Kartel Muzik, God and Time finds the Worl’ Boss in a reflective register — thirteen tracks that balance street wisdom with spiritual themes, and proof that the Teacha’s studio pace has not slowed a year after his Sumfest coronation.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Lottery: Shaggy Bets on Himself with a Star-Studded 13-Track Album for VP Records, 2026
Released 15 May 2026 through Ranch Entertainment and VP Records, Lottery reunites Shaggy with Sting, Beres Hammond, Robin Thicke, Akon and Jeremih — a collab-heavy set built on the philosophy of betting on yourself.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Rebel Salute Makes Its Overseas Debut in Miramar, Florida, With Maxi Priest, Mykal Rose, Chalice and a Key to Broward County for Tony Rebel
With no Jamaican staging in 2026 after Hurricane Melissa, Tony Rebel took his festival to Miramar Regional Park on Sunday, April 19, 2026 — after two postponements in 2025. Rain did not stop the crowd; estimates ran from 2,500 to Rebel’s own 7,000. Gyptian and Louie Culture were no-shows. ‘A foundation has been set for bigger things,’ Rebel said.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Keznamdi Wins the Grammy for Best Reggae Album With ‘BLXXD & FYAH’
The Kingston singer’s self-released second album took Best Reggae Album at the 68th Grammy Awards on February 1, 2026, in a five-way Jamaican field with Vybz Kartel, Lila Iké, Mortimer and Jesse Royal. It was his first nomination.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Culture Reggae Industry’s Hurricane Melissa Concerts Raise an Estimated $200 Million, Grange Says, as Reggae Month Launches
Three months after the Category 5 storm, the Culture Minister put a figure on the music community’s response: $64 million from the November telethon already lodged with Support Jamaica, about US$500,000 from the sold-out Jamaica Strong show at New York’s UBS Arena, and returns from January’s Stay Strong Jamaica concert in Florida still to come.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music No Rebel Salute in Jamaica for 2026: Organisers Cite Hurricane Melissa’s Toll on Western Audiences and Logistics
Tony Rebel’s roots festival will not be staged on the island this coming January. In a statement on December 23, 2025, Rebel Salute said the storm had disrupted the planning needed ‘to responsibly produce an event of this scale,’ and that it had ‘chosen to pause rather than proceed.’ A Florida edition is planned for April.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Jimmy Cliff Dies at 81: Reggae Pioneer Crosses His Final River, November 2025
Latifa Chambers announces that her husband died on 24 November 2025 after a seizure followed by pneumonia — closing a six-decade career from Beverley's ska sides to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, two Grammys and Jamaica's Order of Merit.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Culture Hurricane Melissa Hits Jamaica as a Category 5 — Studios Dark, Sumfest’s Home Underwater, Music Community Mobilises
The most powerful storm ever to strike the island made landfall near New Hope, Westmoreland on October 28, 2025 with 185 mph winds. Western Jamaica’s studios and venues took the worst of it; Kingston’s Tuff Gong and the Bob Marley Museum were spared and became relief centres. Updated November 6 with the industry response.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial
Music Vybz Kartel Drops ‘Heart & Soul,’ an 11-Track Surprise Album, on the Night of His Barclays Center Show
Released at midnight on August 29, 2025 through Greedy Lion and Vybz Kartel Muzik, the set opens with a dedication to his fiancée, carries the TikTok hit ‘I Know,’ and features Ishawna on ‘Bad Bad Bad.’ Voiced largely in marathon sessions with engineer RedBoom, it arrived the same night Kartel headlined Reggaefest in Brooklyn.
By JamaicansMusic Editorial