VETERAN singer Ernie Smith is in an uptempo mood for having been invited to make a guest appearance on the 2017 staging of Simply Myrna. The annual concert — hosted by songstress Myrna Hague — will this year be held at the Formal Gardens at Devon House in St Andrew on Saturday, March 4.

“The incredible Myrna Hague asked me to be her guest performer. Please come and hear some of the songs that touched me as a boy, young man, and even as an elder, at Simply Myrna event. You can’t miss this. See you there,” an elated Ernie Smith told the Sunday Observer.

The National Chorale of Jamaica is also slated to make a guest appearance on the popular musical event that is held under the Patronage of Governor General Sir Kenneth and his wife, Lady Hall.

With a catalogue spanning more than three decades, Smith has made an indelible mark on Jamaican music since his breakthrough song

I Can’t Take It Any More (later covered by Johnny Nash as Tears On My Pillow). His other songs includeBend Down, Ride On Sammy, One Dream, Pitta Patta and Duppy Gunman.

The Simply Myrna concert series began in 2011. Recordings from the first two years of the concerts were released in December 2012 on the album The Best of Simply Myrna Concerts Live.

— Basil Walters