Among the things that Dennis Brown’s family is most proud of with each staging of his tribute concert is the increased patronage of young people.

Brown’s cousin, Prynce David Royal, was among the tight-knit family which came to enjoy the evening’s festivities at Kingston’s Waterfront on Sunday night.

“The family is very pleased because every year it gets bigger and bigger. Tonight’s turnout is overwhelming, and even the younger generation start to appreciate the music and that is amazing because although Dennis has been gone for over 20 years, you can see that his music is still uplifting the lives of a lot of people,” Royal told BUZZ.

“We’re very grateful towards the Dennis Brown Trust spearheaded by Junior Lincoln and the organisers of this show for working tremendously hard to get the show to where it is. This is how we want Dennis to be celebrated.”

One of Jamaica’s loved artistes

The family members usually remain low-key at the show, except for when it’s time to cut the cake. This year, fans got to see different generations of the Brown clan on stage, from his sisters, nieces, mother-in-law, to his cousin, and his dear friend Trevor ‘Leggo’ Douglas and Entertainment Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange also joining in for the cutting of the cake.

Brown would have turned 63 on February 1, and family

members living overseas executed a concert in London where he lived for most of

the 90s.

“His wife, Yvonne, and children, put on a

tribute concert and various artistes went up to pay their tribute to him,”

he said. “Dennis is one of Jamaica’s loved artistes and he has guided a

lot of these Jamaican artistes so they are always willing to throw in their

respect and support.”

Crescendo for Reggae Month

An unwavering patron at the concert is

Copeland Forbes, who said he knew Brown “inside and out”. The artiste

manager represented the Revolution

singer for eight years and has even dedicated a chapter to Brown in his

upcoming memoir to be published in October.

“His chapter is called ‘Lips of Wine’ where I talk about Dennis’ complete aura and everything about him,” Forbes said.

“Dennis was one of the most famous artistes out of Jamaica, and Bob Marley loved him so much that even when we had concerts in New York, once Bob was there, he’d come to the show and he’d talk about Dennis all the while. Me and Dennis coming from far, I know him from nine years old, as when I was in the Boy Scouts, Dennis was in the Cub Scouts at Central Branch. This is a great event and truly the crescendo for Reggae Month.”