Platinum selling Jamaican recording artist Jack Radics will headline the 2016 Magic City Reggae Festival, to be held at The Historic Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, May 21.

It is the first time in its nearly 100 year history that the Boutwell , first erected in 1924 – will play host to a Reggae event of any kind.

The performance will be part of the Annual Birmingham Reggae Fest produced by the Carib Culture Center, which will run from Friday May 20 through Sunday May 22.

Appearing along with Radics on the historic night will be popular fellow reggae acts including Bermudan born Mishka with Dub Bass, Angella Stewart, the Birmingham based Sherman and The Sterling Brothers Band, Aluta Continua and rising star Bhy2r.

The performance on May 21 forms the centerpiece of the three day event, which will also feature a street festival on the piazza in front of the Boutwell from Friday through Sunday, showcasing dancers, drummers, street bands, vendors, guest speakers and various other cultural activities.

For Sherman Sterling, Founder and CEO of the Carib Culture Center established in 1996, the new alliance with the historic Boutwell is a dream come true.

“This is history in the making,” he says “Because when we began the festival nearly twenty years ago, it was primarily a means of providing opportunities for artists to share their talents while also introducing Birmingham to Caribbean music and culture. But to have planted that seed, and to watch it grow to where the historic Boutwell – which has never hosted a reggae concert or event of any kind in nearly a century of its existence- is now our new home, is just tremendous.  The way this particular venue will bring together different people of different cultures in such an iconic setting, is undoubtedly a sign of the creator’s work being done through us.”

A major force in the worlds of reggae, soul and pop music for over a quarter of a century, Radics has sold over three million records worldwide and is in the Guinness book of World records for recording the fastest selling reggae remake ever of a popular song- Twist and Shout- on which he collaborated with fellow Jamaican artists Chaka Demus and Pliers, in 1993.

His latest single, Make You Mine, from his album Way 2 Long, emerged as a solid Billboard Top Ten hit within weeks of its release last fall.