There are few artists whose career continues to intrigue different
generations of music fans. Nadine Sutherland is one such. An artist,
whose talents are respected and admired in all age groups. Her voice
heralded as one of the best in Reggae music by some music lovers and
critics. Throughout a career that spans 40 years, her stage performances
and hits continue to captivate new fans, while still maintaining the
love and respect from those who witnessed her rise from teen sensation,
into her new legendary status. Her wide range of fans always waiting to
see what is next from this diva who constantly reinvents herself.
The ‘child-star’ made her stage debut, in 1979, at the age of
eleven, as the first winner of Jamaica’s popular “Tastee Talent
Contest”. International Reggae superstar Bob Marley signed her to his
Tuff Gong label. Nadine went from being known as Reggae’s “Teen Queen”,
with hits including “Starvation” and “Until”; to garnering international
acclaim as the co-lead on dancehall anthems “Action” and “Anything For
You”. She also had the opportunity to work with another Reggae Icon as a
teenager. While still a student at St Andrew High School for girls, she
was hand picked by Reggae icon Peter Tosh, to provide background vocals
on his grammy award album ‘No Nuclear War’. This led her to be one of
the top requested studio background vocalists in the late eighties and
early nineties. Providing support vocals for Dennis Brown, Gregory
Isaacs, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and the soundtrack of Disney’s
Sebastian the Crab.
Considered by fans and critics alike to be the premier Jamaican
female vocalist of her generation, Nadine continued to fulfill the
promise she demonstrated as a child. Throughout the 90’s, Nadine
remained centre-stage in the dancehall with solo hits Including
“Rainbow/ I’m in Love”, “Babyface” and “Wicked & Wild”, as well as
collaborations with top deejays including Buju Banton, Mad Cobra,
Spragga Benz, Terror Fabulous and Canadian singjay Snow. The hit ballad
“Pair of Wings” highlighted Nadine’s songwriting abilities. Released
near the time of the shocking death of promising reggae singer, Garnet
Silk, her earnest and tender performance became the unofficial tribute.
The 1997 release of her self-titled album on VP Records further
showcased her depth and sincerity as a writer and performer. The song
“No, No (Not My Baby)” is considered by some music critics as one of the
most powerful mother-to son ballads ever written. Having devoted most
of her childhood and young adult years to her recording and performing
career, Nadine took some time away from the industry to explore some of
her other interests. She explored her writing skills with articles
published in a weekly column in one of Jamaica’s top newspapers ‘The
Jamaica Observer’. Her longtime love of dance led to her becoming a
certified fitness dance aerobics instructor.
Nadine was soon to find another area of the cultural industries in
which she excelled, this was through the medium of television. She was
one of the original set of panel judges in the popular Jamaican
television show Rising Stars. As the winner of a talent contest herself,
she brought her life experience to Rising Stars, which was Jamaica’s
first live, made for television talent search. In 2006 Nadine created
her own business enterprise, Nadsipadsi Enterprises, to coordinate her
many interests and projects. She also became the spokesperson for
Supligen Soy, a Nestle-owned nutritional replacement popular in the
Caribbean. In 2007 Nadine took on the role of executive producer and
released her mega album “Call My Name”. The album gathered considerably
chart’s traction scoring the number one position in South Florida,
number three in Jamaica and number two in New York. The hit single from
the album “Big Things”, was given heavy rotation in the Caribbean Reggae
market and the video for the single was shown widely on several
international video shows.
The release of her controversial song “Cougar” in 2009 with special
features in the video with the likes of world renowned international
sprinter Yohan Blake saw her embracing another side of her artistic
expressions. The provocative thematic content raised a few eyebrows,
however, helping to broaden her fan base. In 2011, she realized one of
her dreams which was to become a student. Influenced by Caribbean
Cultural Icon Rex Nettleford, she became an undergraduate student at the
University of The West Indies, studying the discipline of Cultural
Studies. She was awarded a Masters in Arts in Cultural Studies in 2016.
With her academic pursuits behind her, Nadine released to singles in
2016. One was a remake of one of the tracks from the album “Call My
Name” titled “Remedy” with Zyon I, the other is a Reggaeton track “Never
In Love” for producers Vexx Bad. At the beginning of 2017, the video
for Remedy was shot and made available to several media stations.
Consequently, this has increased the radio play and lifted her general
profile and presence the local Reggae/Dancehall market. On the
international scene, her versatility and proficiency as a vocalist
mastering different genres was displayed. As a song that was intended to
be a demo for her being the possible lead chanteuse for the group Soul
to Soul, in the early nineties, titled “Love Comes Back to You” was
released as a third single from the album ”Look to the Sky”. This album
was marketed to Soul and R & B international audiences. She shared
solo vocal performance tracks with other world renowned critically and
commercially acclaimed artists, like Karen Wheeler, Chante Moore and
Maxi Priest. After she made her first European performance at arguably
the biggest Reggae festival in the world, Rototom in Spain in August
2017, she was appointed The Director of The Performing Arts for the
Challenge Charter Organization in Far Rockaway New York.
Terror Fabulous Ft. Nadine - Action
Social Media:
INSTAGRAM:@nadinesutherland
INSTAGRAM:@nadinesutherland
No comments:
Post a Comment