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June 23, 2009
Toni Braxton, Ne-Yo confirmed for Reggae Sumfest
Six-time Grammy award winner, R & B singer, songwriter and actress Toni Braxton, and Grammy winning R & B singer songwriter, record producer, actor and occasional rapper, Ne-Yo, will both be performing at Reggae Sumfest 2009. This was announced by Johnny Gourzong, executive producer of the 17 year old Festival, in New York on Thursday June 11, 2009.
“With the signing of these two phenomenal artistes, we have almost completed our line-up for the Festival this year”, commented Gourzong, as he spoke at the New York launch of Reggae Sumfest 2009. With this addition to the already impressive line-up which also features the gifted Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley on stage with American rapper Nas, the Reggae Sumfest stage will certainly be on fire between July 23 – 25.
“Damian and Nas are touring together this year and are doing a collaborative album to be released soon. We are very excited to be able to present this exciting fusion to our Reggae Sumfest audience”, continued Gourzong.
Mr. Gourzong also made special mention of one person who had been with Reggae Sumfest from the start, this time a performer. Beenie Man, he announced would be celebrating 30 years of performance in 2009, and to honour this major accomplishment Reggae Sumfest would be paying tribute to the “King of Dancehall” at the 2009 festival, to show their appreciation for his loyalty and consistent support of Reggae Sumfest.
The launch was held at Club Opera, a new night spot in Manhattan. It hosted a variety of media personnel as well as sponsor representatives, Summerfest Productions executives and other special guests, where they were also treated to surprise appearances by dancehall acts Spice and Flippa Mafia. The Reggae Sumfest launch was planned to coincide with Caribbean American Heritage week, and was part of a larger calendar of activities which targeted and highlighted the Caribbean. A special message was delivered to the Reggae Sumfest team on behalf of Mayor Bloomberg, who expressed his pleasure in welcoming and hosting the team in New York.
Special guest speaker was the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, who delivered his address in his usual eloquent manner. Bartlett commented that Reggae Sumfest was an important part of the ‘Jamaican Product’, as it was integral to the tourism mandate of bringing “more heads to beds, more feet to the street, converting lookers to bookers, and baby boomers into zoomers”.
Reggae Sumfest kicks off on July 19 with a beach party and continues July 23-25 with three nights of exciting, non-stop performances by top Dancehall, Reggae and International acts. In addition to the stars already mentioned, the impressive line- up includes Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Mavado, Vybz Kartel, Elephant Man, Lady Saw, Busy Signal, Spice, D`Angel, Konshens, Prodigal Son, Stacious, Charly Black, Flippa Mafia, I-Octane, Bugle, Poor & Boasy and Spring I on Dancehall Night; Jazmine Sullivan, Morgan Heritage, Jah Cure, Coco T, Queen Ifrica, Dub Tonic Kru, Ezron, and Stream on International Night 1; and Inner Circle, Tarrus Riley, Etana, Da`ville, Rhaatid and Lutan Fyah on International Night 2.