Veteran reggae singer Toots Hibbert racked up his fourth nomination yesterday, as his True Love album on the V2 Records label was named among those vying in the Best Reggae Album category in the 47th annual Grammy Awards.

Toots Hibbert

Jimmy Cliff, another veteran in the music industry, picked up his sixth nomination for his latest disc Black Magic, while Steel Pulse's African Holocaust became the British reggae group's seventh nomination overall.

Rhythm programmers and musicians Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare received their nominations for the Dub Revolutions collection, which was released by Sanctuary Records. This is the duo's third nomination.

The Def Jamaica/Def Jam Recordings various artistes compilation disc Def Jamaica, which spawned the hit singles Dude (remix) by Beenie Man, Miss Thing and Shawna, and the Billboard R&B chart hit Anything Goes, with Wayne Wonder, Lexxus and CNN, also garnered a nomination.

Jimmy Cliff

Christy Barber, President of Tuff Gong International Ghetto Youths International, executive producers of the Def Jamaica compilation, said the announcement of the nomination was the icing on the cake for the hard work that was done.

"This is the proudest day of my life after 12 years in the industry. Finally, I feel the hard work that my producers and artistes put in has paid off. They deserve Grammies, platinum plaques and gold records for their efforts. I am so proud," Barber said.

Barber, who has worked with more than eight record companies in various capacities, said she could have made the switch to other genres of music. It is her love for the reggae genre that has kept her doing what she does.

"This nomination gives me another reason to stick with this. I will go nowhere else. Reggae is the most phenomenal music ever made and it has a lot of recognition to be achieved," she said.

The Def Jamaica compilation, which boasts tracks from Wayne Marshall, Buju Banton, TOK, Shawna, Method Man, Red Man, Vybz Kartel, Spragga Benz and Tanto Metro and Devonte among others, took almost a year to be completed.

"The artistes were very professional and co-operative. Randy at Def Jamaica contacted me to assist with the project and we just did our thing. It's kind of phenomenal how we got it done so quickly," Barber said.

Hibbert, whose cellular telephone has been bombarded with calls congratulating him on his nomination, said he felt good about the turn of events. His album True Love, which features collaborations with the likes of Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Ryan Adams, Shaggy, Jeff Beck, No Doubt, Bootsy Collins, Marcia Griffiths, the Skatalites, U-Roy, Keith Richards and Ben Harper among others, peaked at number two on Billboard's Reggae Album chart.

The 15-track set has sold more than 150,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen Sound Scan. "I feel good about this because it was a good record. I just came back from overseas promoting it, so it didn't come as a surprise to me. The reviews have been good and the sales have been doing pretty well," Toots said.

True Love, which Hibbert said took just under a year to be recorded and released, is the veteran singer's fourth nomination. His previous nominations were Ska Father (1998), Toots In Memphis (1988) and An Hour Live (1990).

Efforts to contact Jimmy Cliff for a comment proved futile. When contact was made with his record label, Artemis Records in New York, we were transferred to the publicity and promotions department where a voice mail greeted us on three attempts. Messages left were not returned.

Cliff's Black Magic features guest collaborations with former Eurythmics singers Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, Sting, Joe Strummer, Kool and the Gang and Wyclef Jean. The album peaked at number 11 on Billboard's Reggae Album chart in September.

Cliff's previous nominations were Club Paradise (1986), Hanging Fire (1988), Breakout (1992), Reggae Night (1984) and Cliff Hanger (1985).
Cliff Hanger won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album.
Dr Dread from RAS Records, which released Steel Pulse's African Holocaust album, said the quality of the album was a sure fire guarantee for a Grammy nomination.

"Steel Pulse is one of the premiere reggae groups in the history of reggae music. The quality of this album rivals their greatest works. When I heard the album, I was blown away by it. It is a well-deserved nomination for a great album, Dr Dread said. African Holocaust is Steel Pulse's first album of new materia in almost seven years.

The group won the Grammy award in 1986 for the album Babylon The Bandit. Their other nominations were for Living Legacy (1999), Stepping Out (1984), Rage and Fury (1991), Victims (1997), and Rastafari Centennial/Live in Paris (1992). The nomination for Dub Revolutionaries, which was released on Sanctuary Records/RAS, came as a big surprise for Sly Dunbar.

The prolific producer/musician, who worked on No Doubt's Grammy-winning songs Hey Baby (which featured Bounty Killer) and Underneath It All (which featured Lady Saw), first picked up a nomination in 1985 in the category Best R&B
Instrumental Performance for Bass and Trouble, which came from the album Language Barrier.

"This nomination caught me off guard. We make records for people to enjoy. We make it for the people. I keep telling people to just keep making good music," Dunbar said.

Sly and Robbie won the Best Reggae Album category in 1998 for their Friends album. They also produced Anthem, the ground-breaking 1984 Grammy-winning album from Black Uhuru.

The winners in the 47th annual Grammy Awards will be announced on February 13, 2005. Kanye West leads the list of nominees with 10 nominations. Alicia Keys and Usher picked up eight nominations, while the late R&B veteran Ray Charles received seven nominations. Punk rock band Green Day received six nominations.

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