IN celebration of International Reggae Day on July 1, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) will present the Keys to the City to four artistes on a date to be announced.
They are Bunny Wailer, Ernie Smith, Marcia Griffiths, and Beres Hammond.
The decision was made at a KSAMC council meeting in downtown Kingston on Tuesday. Jamaica Labour Party Councillor Tosha Schwapp of the Stony Hill Division, who moved the resolution, described the artistes as “outstanding musical icons” who helped put Jamaica “further on the map”.
People’s National Party (PNP) Councillor Venesha Phillips (Papine Division), who seconded the resolution, said she and her minority colleagues happily supported the move.
Bunny Wailer, a founding member of the Wailing Wailers — which comprised Bob Marley and Peter Tosh — is one of reggae music’s greats. During the 1990s he won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album three times.
Griffiths, a former member of Marley’s harmony trio I-Three, is considered one of the standard-bearers of reggae music.
With a catalogue spanning more than three decades, Smith has made an indelible mark on Jamaican music, while lovers’ rock singer Beres Hammond has maintained his run as a prolific hitmaker.
