After over 30 years of playing with some of the music’s biggest names, guitarist Robert Browne finally got his due at the January 22 Grammy Certificates Ceremony in South Florida.

Browne was presented with five certificates for playing on Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers’ Free Like We Want 2 Be, Burning Spear’s Free Man, Shaggy’s Out of Many One Music and Summer in Kingston, and Protoje’s A Matter of Time.

The event, staged by the London-based Back 2 Da Future Music Limited, was held at Island SPACE Caribbean Museum in the city of Plantation.

“It’s a great feeling to be honoured and recognised for the works. Usually only the artistes and featured artistes are honoured and given the accolades,” said Browne. “Now people, especially younger people, get a chance to see that you can also be recognised and honoured for being a participant in a recording and not necessarily being only the artiste, producer, writer or engineer.”

He added that the session musician has never really got their due, despite stalwart contributions since Jamaica’s music industry took shape in the early 1960s.

“We kinda get what we put in. Most times we leave a [recording] session not making notes of the title, or knowing which artiste will be on a record. We get paid, or not, and move on to the next thing. Then the song comes out and half the time we don’t remember playing on the record,” Browne stated. “Case in point, I received a certificate for Burning Spear’s record and I had no recollection of it until it was presented to me. The point I’m making is, we, as musicians and creatives, typically avoid administrative tasks. But we need to keep on top of our business to get our fair due. Make notes, keep track of sessions, etc; treat sessions like a business.”

Browne’s father, Glen, is a respected bassist who has played with Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, and Tarrus Riley. His uncles Dalton (guitar), Noel (keyboard), Cleveland (drums), and Danny (guitar) are also accomplished musicians.

Morgan Heritage, Gramps Morgan, and Wayne Wonder also received certificates from Back 2 Da Future Music Limited and The Royalty Network, a music publishing company located in New York.

The certificates are sanctioned by The Recording Academy.

Morgan Heritage were acknowledged for contributing to 44/876, a song from Sting and Shaggy’s album of the same name that won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2019. That track also features Aidonia.

Gramps received awards for working on J Boog’s Wash House Ting and Evolution by The Wailers, which were nominated for Best Reggae Album in 2017 and 2025, respectively.

Wayne Wonder accepted certificates for collaborating on Shaggy’s Boombastic, which won the 1996 Best Reggae Album Grammy, and Buju Banton’s Friends For Life, which was nominated for that category in 2004.