Entertainment News

30th 08 2018

Trojan Records Doc To Get World Premiere At

London Film Fest

Trojan Records celebrates 50th Anniversary with a new documentary on how Jamaican music launched a multicultural revolution

JIMMY CLIFF

Wednesday, 30th March 2016

LEGENDARY ska and reggae star Jimmy Cliff will be stepping out on stage in Bahrain on his 68th birthday determined to carry on making music, entertaining fans and spreading a message of love in his own inimitable style.

ZIGGY MARLEY

Thursday March 24th, 2016

Bob Marley's son Ziggy and his wife have welcomed their fourth child together.

Ziggy Marley, 47, and his wife Orly Agai already have daughter, Judah, 10, and sons Gideon, nine, and Abraham, five, together.

They recently welcomed their latest addition into the world with son Isaiah Sion Robert Nesta Marley.

Thursday. February 18th, 2016

Widely regarded as one of reggae’s most influential musicians, Donat ‘Jackie’ Mittoo is unknown to many in contemporary dancehall.

On Saturday, the original ‘beat master’ will be honoured in a ceremony at his alma mater, Kingston College (KC).

Mittoo, who died in Canada in 1990, never graduated from KC. He left while in fourth form at age 15 to become a founding member of The Skatalites band.

The ceremony takes place at the KC Chapel where Mittoo honed his playing on the organ. His family will be presented with a symbolic school tie and a citation.

Monday, February 15th, 2016

Morgan Heritage, was a short while ago announced as the Grammy ... the Billboard Reggae Album Chart when it was released last April.

Morgan Herritage Wins First Reggae Grammy Award

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016

Vinyl’s number one on the pecking order

THERE is growing demand for vinyl records in the United Kingdom and Europe which is music to the ears of administrators at London-based Peckings Records.

According to proprietor of Peckings Records, Christopher Price, this renewed interest in vinyl has seen steady sales for the reggae 45 rpm.

“For many years, as you know, vinyl had become redundant for mainstream music collectors as the compact disc (CD) became the main player, but for the last two years vinyl sales have gone up all over the UK and Europe with more shops and distributors opening up,” he explained.

Peckings Records is located in Shepherds Bush and was founded in 1974 by Price’s father, George ‘Peckings’ Price. It is now operated by Christopher and his brothers Dub Duke and Trevor.

“He [George Price] was the first person in the UK to be selling records from Jamaica. He was a member of the Coxsone Downbeat sound [system] and childhood friends with Clement ‘ Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, Duke Reid, Lee Perry and Prince Buster. When he left Jamaica to come to the UK, Coxsone asked him to distribute Studio One music which he sold to all the music collectors and sound systems from his house until he opened the shop,” said Price. “That’s when the Europeans really got to know about Studio One, through Peckings record shop.”

Price, 50, is the only member of his family born in the UK. His parents and brothers are originally from West Kingston. He has been running the record store for over 20 years.

The Peckings Records label came into existence in 2004. It has released a number of hit songs including Bitty McLean’s

Walk Away From Love, Heaven in Her Eyes and Put The Stereo On by Gappy Ranks, Never Played a 45 by Macka B, Lucky Man by Courtney John and Young Heart Burning Desire by Tarrus Riley.

All have done well on vinyl.

“Speaking to many music distributors and record shops all over the UK and Europe, what I have gathered from them is that there is a new generation of music collectors who are vinyl-crazy. They are collecting vinyl that they never had the chance to buy back in the day and also they like the whole retro DJ culture from the ‘70s and ‘80s with the turntable, DJ bags and the vinyl mixing. Another thing is they feel much more professional as a DJ spinning vinyl because due to technology, there is software that emulates turntables, so why not use the real thing and play vinyl,” he explained.

Price said that even with the CD revolution, his store continued selling vinyl which always had an underground following in the UK.