Forty

years ago (on December 13 to be exact), an 11-year-old ‘country’ girl became

the first winner of the Tastee’s Talent competition, beating rising deejay

Yellowman and singer Paul Blake.

This

girl would grow to become the sprightly performer and dancehall hitmaker Nadine

Sutherland, who was often likened to a ‘Jamaican Whitney Houston’ by producers

in the 1990s.

In a

series of Instagram posts, Sutherland reflected on the feat as a dreamer from

Above Rocks, St Catherine, who won the quarterfinals in June 1979, a day after

finding out she passed her Common Entrance Exam, and would be attending the St

Andrew High School for Girls. The finals took place that December where she walked

away the winner and subsequently launched a music career.

“After

that the Cinderella life started. I was introduced to Bob Marley, and through

his vision I was able to do my first song, Starvation On The Land (written

by Anthony ‘Sangie’ Davis),” the 51-year-old said in a video.

She

moved on to become a background vocalist for producer Augustus ‘Gussie’ Clarke

and worked on Peter Tosh’s 1988 Grammy-winning album, No Nuclear War. With the gritty turn of dancehall music in the 1980s, Sutherland found herself

caught between not wanting to disappoint her Rastafarian father, but also

wanting to explore different musical styles without constraint.

Her

early records include I Want To Go Home on the Penthouse Label and Dirty

Talk featuring Papa San, released in 1992. Action was released the

following year with toaster Terror Fabulous and catapulted Sutherland to

mainstream stardom.

As

Sutherland recalled in a personal interview, she became the “go-to

singer” for producers looking to score a smooth chorus paired with the

hardcore verses of male performers. As heard on songs like the 1995 all-star

Penthouse classic Anything For You (led by Snow), Wicked Dickie

with Buju Banton and Man Haffi Wicked with Spragga Benz, the formula

worked.

Sutherland has also secured her own solo hits with tracks like Babyface produced by Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell and I’m In Love that was produced by Robert ‘Bobby Digital’ Dixon and Barry O’Hare.

“There

are so many songs that I’ve done that you’ve appreciated and loved and you’ve

given me a chance to express myself as a songwriter and as a dancer, and so

many other aspects of the arts,” Sutherland told fans.

“Thank

you for embracing me all these years. Thank you all for sometimes making me see

myself from even a better perspective cause sometimes you see me even bigger

and larger than I even see myself… More records will be coming, I will be

doing a lot more.”

Nadine

holds a master’s degree in cultural studies from the University of the West

Indies. She has also served as the director of performing arts at the Challenge

Preparatory Charter School in New York (2017 – 2018). She is also a former

judge on televised talent show, Digicel Rising Stars.