As we celebrate Reggae Month we reflect on this cultural treasure, evolving from the ska beat and then the mesmerising rocksteady. As an engineer with Total Sounds Limited, a record manufacturing and distribution company of the 70s, my husband Hubie Chin interacted with legends like Rita and Bob Marley, Burning Spear, John Holt, Johnny Clarke, and Bob Andy.

I remember the evening when Hubie brought home a sample record. He said Bob Marley wanted a handsome advance and his boss, Herman McDonald, wanted my opinion — at that time I was a theatre reviewer for the Daily News. On listening to the record, I immediately suggested that he pay him double. It was Rat Race, and it was number one on the charts for six weeks.

While serving on the board of Alpha Boys School (now Alpha Institute), I learnt much of the history from the legendary Sister Mary Ignatius Davis of the Sisters of Mercy. Founded in 1880, Alpha Boys School became the cradle of Jamaican music. It was to have been a school for wayward boys, but became a sought-after music school with a rich history. Johnny “Dizzy” Moore, who was a member of the legendary Skatalites, said that he wanted so much to study music at Alpha that he played pranks at home just to be sent there.

When Sister Ignatius passed away in February 2017, this column celebrated her 60 years, graduating 200 students per year, titled ‘The mother of many sons’. I wrote: “I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a music video a few years ago on Television Jamaica (TVJ) showing Sister Ignatius shaking hands with one of her many sons, reggae singer Leroy Smart. When I called to tease her, she said in her slightly dry tone, ‘My dear, Leroy came by to visit and as I greeted him and looked up, there was the camera!’ But you could hear the pride in her voice — yet another of her boys had done well.”

Sister Ignatius’s children include the late great Lennie Hibbert; Don Drummond; Tommy McCook; Leslie Thompson, who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra; Cedric “Im” Brooks; “Dizzy” Moore; Bobby Ellis; Eddie Thornton; “Sparrow” Martin, who taught at the school; and the dance hall sensation, Yellowman.

Reggae boosts ads

Of course, reggae sells everything well, so at our agency, PROComm, we collaborated with several amazing artistes. We learnt that Flourgon had mentioned Lasco in his lyrics, so we collaborated on lyrics for the first Lasco Food Drink ad. The jingle was so popular that he had to get cases of the product to distribute at his shows. Lloyd Lovindeer sang a popular Lasco Whole Milk jingle for us, and Freddie McGregor and young Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor gave us a lively Lasco LaSoy jingle.

For the Electoral Office of Jamaica, we promoted voter registration with Lovindeer and Dean Fraser in a singalong with over 50 leaders from every walk of life. We commissioned
Peace Love and Unity, Tony Rebel’s inspiring composition for the 1997 General Election. The music video featured our Reggae Boyz Coach Rene Simoes and Olympic gold medallist Deon Hemmings lip-syncing the lyrics. Louise Frazer-Bennett, the late president of the Sound System Association of Jamaica said selectors would play that song to ease political tension at dances.

For another general election we wanted to affirm good behaviour at elections with Jimmy Cliff’s Wonderful World, Beautiful People. We asked our church brother Dwight Richards if we could get a call to the iconic composer. I nearly lost my voice when Dwight called and said, “Hold on for Mr Cliff.” I asked if we could use his song for the the election and he immediately agreed. When I asked if there would be a fee, he replied that there would be no charge. Bless his great heart.

Then came the launch of Digicel in April 2001. Marketing Director Harry Smith called us to help find talent as the singer they planned on was not available. The year before I had been in talks with Sly Dunbar about a project and found him to be good-natured and approachable. He agreed to meet us at our Kingsway office, and as we put our case to him, his eyes lit up. “Let me call Maxi Priest,” he said. Then and there he called him and confirmed that the star agreed to appear at the launch. What a magical night it was!

In my talks with Sly Dunbar, he related that he and Robbie Shakespeare were invited regularly to TV and movie studios in the US and elsewhere to create music for themes and continuity in a variety of movies and TV series. Listen closely, you will hear those recognisable beats in the most unexpected places.

We also engaged Tessanne Chin and Agent Sasco for the peppy and instructive Road Safety Council music video, When You’re On The Road.

Memorable day with Cat Coore

Last November we met our ‘reggae ambassador’ Stephen “Cat” Coore when he was celebrated by CCRP (Caribbean Community of Retired Persons) as a recipient of the 2025 Living Legacy Award. He was in good spirit and got into a party mood when our songbird CCRP member Sandra Crawford sang the Third World hit Rhythm of Life.

His Citation reads, in part:

“Stephen ‘Cat’ Coore is a legendary Jamaican musician whose career spans over five decades, leaving an indelible mark on Jamaica’s cultural and musical heritage worldwide. Born in Kingston, his musical journey began early when he performed at age 10 for Princess Anne on her visit to Jamaica.

“He later joined Inner Circle, before co-founding the iconic Third World Band as artistic director, guitarist, cellist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer. Under his leadership, Third World achieved international acclaim, blending reggae, soul and funk, touring globally, signing with Island Records and releasing hits, including Now That We Found Love. The band earned nine Grammy nominations, the United Nations Medal of Peace, and multiple lifetime achievement awards.”

We are glad to have given him his flowers when he could enjoy them.

Data Privacy Week

Digicel Jamaica Foundation’s Charmaine Daniels shared the work being done by her organisation regarding safer use of the Internet in a letter to the editor published in the Jamaica Observer to mark Data Privacy Week. She said their ‘Safer Internet Together’ campaign in schools has been helping children to protect themselves.

These are tips she shared with students:

1) Think before you post. Would you be okay with your teacher, future employer, or family seeing it?

2) Check your privacy settings often. Apps update frequently, and defaults are not always in your favour.

3) Don’t share personal information publicly. This includes your school, address, location, or daily routine.

4) Use strong passwords and avoid using the same one for everything.

“Be careful with friend requests,” she warned. “Not everyone online is who they claim to be.”

Jean Lowrie-Chin is an author and executive chair of PROComm, PRODEV, and CCRP. Send comments to lowriechin@aim.com.

Jimmy Cliff.

Freddie McGregor

Sly Dunbar

Bob Andy