Jamaican Urica Rose lands on American rock chart

New York-based Jamaican independent singer and songwriter, Urica Rose has made it back on the American Rock/ Alternative Airplay charts.

The very confident and bubbly talent, who also plays the guitar, is now sitting at the No. 89 spot on the Airplay Today Rock/ Alternative top 100 chart, having moved up from the No. 95 spot in two weeks with her new single, Freedom From Dying.

Urica was born in Texas but her family is from the Maxfield Avenue area in Kingston. While she always relished the attention of being on a stage, she didn't know she could sing until she was sixteen years old when her mother overheard her performing on the phone. She got hooked to rock music in Atlanta after hearing a Janis Joplin album. Her other music influences are Prince, Aretha Franklin and James Brown, and she has performed on over a hundred live shows in the past few years.

"Performing is my favourite part of being an artist and there is no better feeling than a band behind you on a stage, feeling that explosive energy from the crowd," Urica told The Gleaner.

She describes her music as a blend of rock, alternative, jazz and blues, but points out too that she puts no boundaries on her musical directions.

At a private listening party held for her last Sunday in New Jersey, her rock remake of Shaggy's Bombastic was attracting as much raves as her current single on the charts. Urica's immediate tasks are to release a few music videos and to complete a new mixtape that will be a combination of rock and rap music.