Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley, affectionately known as “Miss Lou,” was born on September 7, 1919, in Kingston, Jamaica. She became a household name and a cultural icon, recognised as a “Living Legend” in her home country. Miss Lou’s education was rooted in Jamaica, where she attended Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon’s College, Excelsior College, […]

Karen Smith, fondly known as “the songbird of Jamaica,” was a beloved and acclaimed Jamaican recording artiste and cabaret singer. She passed away on 11 September 2021 at Baywest Hospital in Montego Bay, St. James, just six days after celebrating her birthday. Smith had been battling Stage Four colon cancer, and her passing came as […]

Marcia Aitken, born on 5th September 1956 in Hannah Town, West Kingston, Jamaica, was a student at Excelsior High School in Kingston when her talent was discovered at a school concert. Shortly after, she joined Lloyd Parks & We the People Band and began recording with sound engineer Errol Thompson and producer Joe Gibbs, collectively […]

Cocoa Tea was born Colvin George Scott on September 3, 1959, in Rocky Point, Clarendon, Jamaica. Besides singing in church, Cocoa Tea was a racehorse jockey and fisherman. After moving to Kingston in 1983, he met and worked with producer Junjo Lawes, and later King Jammy.  Cocoa Tea is known for hits such as “Rocking […]

It was 1975; I was 13 years old and in third form at St. Andrew High School for Girls when I heard the news that Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 were coming to Kingston to perform. My mother, a strict Pentecostal Christian, forbade my sisters and me from playing secular music or dancing. Yet, […]

On August 28, 1955, reggae singer and songwriter Hugh Beresford Hammond, OJ, a.k.a. Beres Hammond, was born in Annotto Bay, St. Mary, the ninth of ten children. Beres grew up listening to American soul and jazz recordings collected by his father, including Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, and was also influenced by ska and rocksteady, […]

On August 27, 1963, the Jamaica Air Service was founded, formed by an agreement between Jamaica’s government and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), which has since become British Airways. The Jamaica Air Service was the first incarnation of the company that was to become Air Jamaica. The operations of Air Jamaica began in 1966 […]

Grammy award-winning Jamaican reggae artist Anthony Moses Davis, better known by his stage name Beenie Man, was born August 22, 1973 in the Waterhouse district of Kingston, Jamaica. He started his music career at the very early age of five when he began toasting (deejaying) and received the support of his uncle, Sydney Knowles, drummer […]

Usain St. Leo Bolt was born on August 26th, 1986, in Sherwood Content in the parish of Trelawny, Jamaica, to parents Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, who operated a grocery store in the rural neighbourhood. Bolt has two siblings: a brother, Sadiki, and a sister, Sherine.  During his childhood, Usain Bolt played cricket and football and […]

On August 19, 1987, Patrick Christopher Chung, the Jamaican-born American National Football League (NFL) football player, was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Chung, who has four brothers and three sisters, lived with his family in Jamaica until the age of ten before moving to California, where he attended Rancho Cucamonga High School. Chung played college football […]