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We spotted Chris Brown backstage at the Smile Jamaica Africa Unite concert at James Bond Beach here in Jamaica. While he was busy signing autographs for fans and taking photos, his rumored girlfriend Rihanna was on stage belting out hits like Umbrella among others.
Both chart topping stars were later seen hanging out in the backstage area. But two days later over at the Hilton Kingston Hotel (which is just next door to the office of this writer), Brown and Rihanna were both seen snuggling up in the hotel's pool. Both were also seen kissing each other.
Brown swam away briefly from Rihanna to sign an autograph for a fan who was ecstatic about seeing both stars. He later returned to Rihanna who was waiting patiently.
Rihanna & Chris Brown in Jamaica
Tarrus Riley the big winner at inaugural staging of Reggae Academy Awards…Mavado, Queen Ifrica and Don Corleon snubbed
Tarrus Riley won the lion's share of the statuettes handed out during the inaugural Reggae Academy awards at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Sunday night. He walked away with four awards including Most Popular Song and Best Reggae Song for his monster breakthrough hit, She's Royal. He also grabbed the Best Solo Male Vocal Performance, and Breakthrough Reggae Artiste awards, and then inspired two others, Rupert Campbell won for Best Reggae Video (director's award) for She's Royal while engineer Romel Marshall won for Best Reggae recording. He was just on fire that night.
Beenie Man won one award for Most Popular artiste, which was voted by the public. Dancehall artiste Mavado, reggae singer Queen Ifrica and top dancehall producer Donovan 'Don Corleon' Bennett were shut out of winning any of the awards.
However, Munga Honourable did win for best Breakthrough Dancehall Artiste. Sean Paul shared best Reggae Vocal performance for On My Mind with Daville.
Stephen McGregor won best dancehall compilation for Tremor as well as best dancehall rhythm for Tremor. A large number of the awards went to the Marleys including best album for Stephen Marley's Mind Control and best producer while Best Dancehall Recording (engineer's award) for One Loaf a Bread. Bob Marley won a special award for being a Reggae Icon.
Shaggy won Best Dancehall Album for Intoxication, and while Jay Will won Best Dancehall Video for Shaggy's Church Heathen remix.
The show itself was a spectacular show with a few glitches, and poignant moments such a minute's silence in honour of legendary producer Joe Gibbs who died at age 65. Demarco then did Fallen Soldier, and the emotions in the venue seemed to spike towards a mixture of joy and regret as the industry paused to turn and look back at the sacrifice of those who had gone before, and the challenges that still lay ahead. It was a sort of watershed moment in reggae music.
Josef Bogdanovich, executive producer of the Reggae Academy award show, beamed with pride at the evening's end.
"This shows that with unity, we can achieve anything," the Down Sound Records CEO said. "This was a Pan Caribbean effort, with experts from Jamaica, Bahamas, Grenada, Trinidad, it started after 8:20 and finished promptly at 11:30, I flew in an expert from Miami who dealt with television production so it went well. Most people seemed to have enjoyed the show, Chris Blackwell, and even the Prime Minister stayed for several minutes afterwards just lyming. It took a lot of work, but it is a creditable effort that augurs well for the future."
Lloyd Stanbury is the chairman of the Reggae Academy Awards.
There were three special statuettes handed out. The Reggae Trailblazer Award went to Chris Blackwell while guitarist Ernie Ranglin, a major force in ska, reggae and jazz, won a Reggae Legend nod.
Reggae Academy Award winners
Best Solo Male Vocal Performance - She's Royal, Tarrus Riley
Best Solo Female Reggae Vocal Performance - Roots, Etana
Best Reggae Album - Mind Control, Stephen Marley
Best Instrumental Recording/Album - Making Notes, Robbie Lyn
Best Solo Male Dancehall Vocal Performance - Nah Go A Jail, Busy Signal
Best Female Dancehall Vocal Performance - Chat To Me Back, Lady Saw
Best Dancehall Vocal (Performance by duo or group) - Love Is Wicked, Brick and Lace
Best Dancehall Album - Intoxication, Shaggy
Best Dancehall Video - Church Heathen Remix, Jay Will
Breakthrough Reggae Artiste - Tarrus Riley
Best Dancehall Riddim - Tremor, Stephen McGregor
Best Gospel Album - Prodigal Son, Prodigal Son
Best Gospel Song - Can't Stop Now, Kemoy Rowe, William Barclay and Courick Clarke (Songwriter's Award)
Best Music Producer - Stephen Marley
Best International Reggae/Dancehall Artiste - Collie Budz
Best Reggae Compilation Album - Jamdown Riddim Driven, Delmar Drummond Dangerzone (Executive Producer's Award)
Best Reggae Video - She's Royal Rupert Campbell (Video Director's Award)
Best Reggae Recording - She's Royal, Romel Marshall (Engineer's Award)
Best Reggae Vocal Performance (Duo, Group, Collaboration) - On My Mind, Da'Ville and Sean Paul
Best Dub Recording or Album - Live As One, Zion Train
Breakthrough Dancehall Artiste - Munga Honourable
Best Reggae Riddim - Guardian Angel, Arif Cooper/Fresh Ear (Producer's Award)
Best Dancehall Song - Nah Go A Jail Again, Reanno 'Busy Signal' Gordon (Songwriters' Award)
Best Reggae Song - She's Royal Omar 'Tarrus' Riley (Songwriter's Award)
Best Dancehall Compilation (two or more artistes) - Tremor Riddim Driven, Stephen McGregor/Big Ship Music
Best Dancehall Recording - One Loaf a Bread, Damian Marley (Engineer's Award)
Best Solo Male Vocal Gospel - This Place, Prodigal Son
Performance
Best Solo Female Gospel Performance - Pray For Peace, Chevelle Franklyn
Best Vocal Gospel Performance by a group, duo or collaboration -Ketch A Fyah, Prodigal Son and Jason Mighty
Best Gospel Music Video - Gully People Supen, Andrew Grey(Video Director's Award)
Most Popular Song - She's Royal, Tarrus Riley (People's Choice Award)
Most Popular Artiste - Beenie Man
Special Awardees
Reggae Trailblazer Award - Chris Blackwell
Reggae Legend Award - Ernie Ranglin
Reggae Icon Award - Bob Marley