JaRIA SHOWS ‘JC’ LOVE
Legacies mean just as much as hit songs for some artistes, including JC Lodge. The London-born singer is among the recipients of this year’s Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) Awards.
The awardees, who were recently announced by JaRIA, will include JC Lodge for the Female Icon Award. A date for the event will be disclosed shortly.
“I’m thrilled to be recognised as an artiste worthy of this prestigious award, at this point in my journey! I’ve always strived to make good, quality recordings and continue to do so, despite most not getting the desired exposure,” she told the Jamaica Observer.
JC Lodge, who is in her early 60s, relocated permanently to the United Kingdom 20 years ago. Her acknowledgement from JaRIA comes four decades after she soared on Jamaican and European charts with a cover of the American country song, Someone Loves You Honey.
That paved the way for popular songs like a reggae take on Leo Sayer’s More Than I Can Say, Telephone Love, and Home is Where The Hurt Is.
In late 2021 JC Lodge returned to the charts with Over which topped the Foundation Radio Network Chart in New York for several weeks.
Someone Loves You Honey was produced by Joe Gibbs. JC Lodge had been living in Jamaica for some time and recorded a handful of songs, but her uptempo reggae spin on a single that had been a regional hit in the United States for Charley Pride propelled her to stardom.
It remains one of Lodge’s career highlights.
“Some of my biggest achievements while living in Jamaica were receiving gold and then platinum discs for Record of The Year in the Netherlands 1982-83 for Someone Loves You Honey, and opening the US urban market to dancehall music with Telephone Love in 1989-90,” she said.
Since the early 1990s JC Lodge and her husband Errol O’meally have produced a number of well-received children’s music projects.
The JaRIA class of 2022 is a formidable one. Bob Marley, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley, Barrington Levy, Jacob Miller and the Pama brothers of Jet Star Records fame, are also being recognised.
