BORIS Gardiner was among several acts who entertained the capacity-filled audience attending Musical Rhapsody held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Sunday evening.

The veteran singer, who is also a respected bass player, took patrons on a delightful musical excursion, while sharing a brief history on several tracks from his songbook.“Thirty-one years ago, this song was number one all over the world and it’s still going strong,” he said, before delivering the opening stanza of

I Wanna Wake Up With You. The audience joined in unison.The Ben Peters-penned

I Wanna Wake Up With You was a massive hit for him in 1986. The single was number one on the United Kingdom pop chart in that same year.Gardiner also used the opportunity to reintroduce his audience to

Every Nigger Is Star.“I first co-wrote this song for a movie in 1973, for the movie

Every Nigger Is A Star… and it flopped,” he said, as the audience burst into laughter.“It’s true! But the song was picked up by another movie

Moonlight. I haven’t seen it, but it won Best Picture at the recent Academy Awards,” he said, before belting out the lyrics.In addition to Best Picture,

Moonlight won best supporting actor (Mahershala Ali) and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards in February.

Moonlight has Jamaican roots. British actress Naomie Harris, who stars in the film, was nominated for best supporting actress; her mother is Jamaican and father from Trinidad and Tobago.Released on October 21, the film has grossed US$55.8 million.

Every Nigger Is A Star was also sampled by American rapper Kendrick Lamar in the song

Wesley’s Theory, which is on his platinum-selling, Grammy-winning album

To Pimp A Butterfly (2015).Deejay Super Cat also borrowed a few lines from the single on his 1992 track

Nuff Man A Dead.Gardiner’s set comprised favourites including

Let’s Keep It That Way (Anne Murray),

Someone Loves You Honey (Charley Pride),

The Prophet (Chuck Jackson),

Tell Me Darling (Wilfred “Jackie” Edwards), and

This Old House.During the performance of

It’s So Nice To Be With You, he went into the audience and allowed patrons to sing the chorus. This brought laughter from those listening on, as none could match Gardiner’s soothing strains.Musical Rhapsody also saw great performances from Ken Boothe, Freddie McGregor, George Nooks, Judy Mowatt, and

Rising Star alumna Jodi-Ann Pantry.