Avion Blackman Creates Marlin Upset with Album of the Year Win
Jul. 27, 2006 - For Immediate Release:
Mr. Kingdom Ambassador Cleve Laing aka Stitchie took top honors at the 8TH Caribbean Gospel Music Marlin Awards held Sunday July 23rd, in Nassau, Bahamas. Stitchie won a total of four (4) Marlins including Dancehall Recording of the Year, Dee-Jay Vocal Performance of the Year and Music Video of the Year for his fast spitting fire ball "Fast & Pray". He also took home the evening's top technical award "Producer of the Year" for his production work on his sophomore gospel release "Kingdom Ambassador". Following close behind was Bahamian dub minister Landlord who took home one of the night's biggest prizes, Song of the Year for his international super smash "We Need Peace" that features among others, reggae superstar Luciano. Landlord also won awards for Dub/Culture Recording of the Year for "We Need Peace" and for Adapted Praise & Worship Recording of the Year" for his reggae remake of the praise anthem "This is the Air I Breathe".
However one of the evenings biggest upsets came in the Album of the Year category which saw Avion Blackman from Trinidad winning the evening's highest award for her culturally sensitive masterpiece "Onyinye". Blackman who is the daughter of the late Ras Shorty I, (the man credited as the inventor of Soca Music), won in a category that featured several heavy reggae and dancehall recordings like "On the Shout" by DJ Nicholas, "Prophetic Fire" by Mr. Lynx, "His Way" by Chevelle Franklyn and "Kingdom Ambassador" by Stitchie. Blackman was considered by many as the dark horse in the evening's top race as most thought for sure that the Album of the Year would once again go to Jamaica. Avion however proved this wrong and also became the first Trinidadian to ever win in this category. She also won the Marlin Award for Contemporary Vocal Performance of the Year Female for her soft melodic ballad "Marvelous Beauty" and picked up a third Marlin for Packaging of the Year for "Onyinye".
Avion's producer and husband Mark Mohr was also honored that night with the foreign achievement award for his significant contributions to Caribbean gospel music. A long biography on Mohr was read before he collected his honor. Mark is best know for pioneering gospel reggae with his group Christafari, and as president of Lion of Zion Entertainment and his GospelReggae.com webstore. Earlier in the week Mohr lead a session at the Marlin Global Gospel Music Summit Workshop where he taught a classroom full of Caribbean Gospel performers how to become successful independent artists.
Grand Bahama export Mr.Lynx also won big taking home the award for Reggae Vocal Performance of the Year Male for the single "Shine Ya Light" from his album of the year nominated CD "Prophetic Fire". Lynx won over some of Jamaica's top reggae vocalists like Lester Lewis (Living with Jesus), Stitchie (Gospel Reggae) and newcomer Andrew Lawrence for his single "Prophecy". Also taking home two (2) awards was Jamaican dancehall artist DJ Nicholas who won the awards for New Artist of the Year and Reggae Vocal Performance of the Year Duo/Group for his mega smash "Holy Ghost Church" that features female sensation Kerron Ennis.
Kerron also earned herself two (2) Marlins, one for Reggae Recording of the Year for the single "God is By Our Side" and one for Reggae Vocal Performance of the Year Duo/Group for "Holy Ghost Church" which she shares with DJ Nicholas. Several other artists earned two (2) awards including Bahamian male vocalist Kenyatta Taylor who won the Junkanoo/Rake & Scrape Vocal Performance of the Year Solo for his hot Junkanoo single "Shout Hallelujah". Kenyatta also won for the single "Hold On To Jesus", which was one of the stand out tracks from the compilation, CD "Bahama Praise Party". Taylor shares this award with past Marlin winners Vanessa Rolle, Tamika Smith and male singer Rocky Solomon who all featured on the track.
Keeping things in the Bahamas, Tabernacle Concert Choir or better known as TCC won their first two (2) Marlins, one for Adapted Traditional Recording of the Year and Traditional Vocal of the Year Duo/Group for their rendition of the traditional classic "I Love to Praise Him". Guyana born, New York based artist Cora Williamson also won two (2) Marlin Awards including one for Calypso/Soca Vocal Performance of the Year Female and Adapted Calypso/Soca Recording of the Year for her single "Firm Foundation". Lavard "Manifest" Park CEO of Bahamian based Hip/Hop recording label Dunamus Soundz, won the Hip/Hop Recording of the Year along with his Dunamus Soundz Crew for their hard hitting track "Head Bangers". Manifest picked up a second award for Hip Hop Vocal Performance Duo/Group featuring DJ Frost for the track "We've Only Just Begun" from his sophomore CD "Parables The Silent Struggles".
There were several first time individual winners including St.Maarten native Paul Flemming who won the Calypso/Soca Vocal Performance of the Year-Male award for his single "Sing Hallelujah", Barbados ensemble Second Coming won the Traditional Recording of the Year award for their soul stirring single "Heaven" and hot new group Judah Praise from St.Thomas USVI won their first Marlin Award for their hit "Hoorah For Jesus". Also bringing home a Marlin Award for St.Thomas is Virgin Islands songbird Belinda who won the Adapted Contemporary Recording of the Year award for her inspiring rendition of "My Jesus I Love Thee".
Several Bahamian artists were also first time winners including singer/songwriter Mizpah Bethel who won the Contemporary Recording of the Year award for her heart touching single "Down to the River". Seventh Day Adventist vocal ensemble Harmonious Praise took home their first Marlin Award for Contemporary Vocal Performance of the Year Duo/Group and local choir Adrian Edgecombe and the Bahamas Harvest Praise Team won the Praise and Worship Recording of the Year award for their original single "We Lift Our Hands".
Bahamian Reggae/Soca duo Christian Massive won their second Marlin Award, this time for Rake & Scrape Recording of the Year for their runaway smash "I Come Here to Worship". The group won their first award ten years ago for Reggae Recording of the Year. Rounding out the list of first time winners is Talbert Williams, a fifteen year old high school student who won the 2004 Marlin Talent Search Competition. Talbert won the Marlin Award this year for Inspirational Recording of the Year for his single "Living the Dream" which was written and produced by past Marlin winner Terneille "Ta Da" Burrows.
There were over one (100) hundred artists representing eighteen countries involved in this year's Marlin Awards. The Marlin Awards was broadcast live on radio stations in over ten (10) countries in the Caribbean including St.Vincent (Cross Country Radio), St.Lucia (Praise FM), Jamaica (Love FM), St.Kitts (Goodwill Radio), Dominica (KAIRI FM), Belize (My Refuge), Cayman Islands (Heaven 97.97 and Gospel 98 ), Trinidad (I 95FM) and several others. This marked an historic moment for the awards and was coordinated by Arnold Kelly, top announcer at Love FM (Jamaica) and producer of the Caribbean Hour syndicated radio show.
No Marlin Awards is complete without show stopping performances and this year did not disappoint. Performers included Stitchie (Jamaica) / Mr.Lynx (Bahamas) / Avion Blackman (Trinidad) / Mizpah Bethel featuring Sharmond Smith & Vision (Bahamas) / Judah Praise (Virgin Islands) / Manifest (Bahamas) DJ Nicholas & Kerron Ennis (Jamaica) / Landlord feat Solo (Bahamas) / Paul Flemming (St.Maarten) / Tabernacle Concert Choir (Bahamas)/ Cora Williamson (Guyana) / Shaback feat Vanessa Rolle and Talbert Williams (Bahamas) / Jah Pickney (Canada) and Adrian Edgecombe & The Bahamas Harvest Church Choir (Bahamas).
The Marlin Awards also celebrated its tenth (10th) anniversary (1996-2006) during Marlin Weekend 2006 held July 20-23. The weekend included the Global Gospel Music Summit and Workshops, Marlin Fest and ended with the hosting of the 8th Caribbean Gospel Music Marlin Awards.
Radio announcers representing three different countries served as hosts for the awards making it the first time the awards was hosted by non-Bahamians. The hosts included Arnold Kelly (Love FM-Jamaica), Linda "Chocolate" Berthier (Praize FM-St.Lucia) and Jamie Thomas (Heaven 97.7FM/I 95FM-Cayman Islands/Trinidad).
The Marlin Awards are produced by Harris Communications and are held every two years in the Bahamas. For additional information and photographs visit http://www.marlinawards.com
