On February 15, 2016, just 10 years ago, the 58th annual Grammy Awards ceremony took place at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California. Strictly Roots by Morgan Heritage took home the award for Best Reggae Album.

Morgan Heritage member Roy “Gramps” Morgan recalled the moment when he learnt of the nomination in December 2015.

“The nomination definitely did catch us by surprise at the time when we got the phone call. We were like, what are people talking about? For many years we always just put out music, and we had an amazing time recording these albums and looking to go on tour. So it was business as usual, never expecting a phone call like that,” he told the Jamaica Observer recently.

Gramps said when the group was announced as the winner of he was overcome with emotion.

“What I recall about that feeling was [that] I was in tears fully and couldn’t wait to hug my brothers and sister as well as my children. My father was the first person I called, because he had worked so many years to give us the tools to do music at its highest level, and being nominated for a Grammy is one of the highest things that you can achieve in music,” he shared while highlighting how the win impacted the group’s career over the years.

“It impacted our career in a positive way. The world was taking a second look at this band after so many years of putting out over 10 albums, and finally some people started to pay attention in a sense that they know the band. I think people started to take us serious even — though we have recorded many, many times with other artistes, even producing other artistes on record. So, yes, the branding of being a Grammy Award-winning reggae band is great, but there’s still work to be done even more so now the legacy of the band has to continue to the next generation,” he shared.

Strictly Roots was released March 31, 2015 via CTBC Music Group. The 12 track set features collaborations with Gramps’ son Jemere, Chronixx, Stephen Marley’s son Jo Mersa Marley, Gil Sharone, Eric Rachmany of Rebelution, and J Boog.

The other nominees in the category were Acousticalevy by Barrington Levy, Zion Awake by Luciano, The Cure by Jah Cure, and Branches of the Same Tree by Rocky Dawuni.

Said Gramps: “The Strictly Roots album was approached very calmly with a fun outset and mentality. We wanted to call a bunch of our friends to make music, like Chronixx and many others, even Eric from the band Rebelution. So it was really about a laid-back feel sharing love musically.” The album was then promoted through grass-roots marketing locally and overseas.

“The Jamaican media has always been important to us and have always been there for us. So, everyone that has always supported Morgan Heritage throughout the years has always been our first go-to, and then the next step would be international media and looking to go on tour. We also worked with several musicians on the project, including the musicians who were from our band, but they were also some musicians from the UK that people like Seani B and some of the musicians that played in UB40 band submitted songs for the album, but the musicians mostly came from our friends; musicians from Stephen Marley’s band and Shaggy’s band. Musicians that we brought into the studio and have always worked with over the years on several Morgan Heritage albums,” said Gramps.

The 2026 Grammy Awards will be held out on Sunday, February 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA.

The nominees in the 2026 Best Reggae Album category are Treasure Self Love by Lila Ike, Blxxd and Fyah by Keznamdi, From Within by Mortimer, Heart & Soul by Vybz Kartel, and No Place Like Home by Jesse Royal.

From left: Gramps, Lukes and Peetah Morgan pose after winning the Best Reggae Album Grammy for Strictly Roots at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in February 2016..

Strictly Roots by Morgan Heritage .