5 Questions With ... Regina Belle

Academy award-winning and multi-Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actress, Regina Belle, headlines the May 6, Perry’s pre-Mother’s Day event, which is scheduled to take place at Hope Gardens in St Andrew.

Featured performers are the Queen of Reggae, Marcia Griffiths, and musical stalwarts, Glen Washington and George Nooks.

Belle, who performed at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival 2011 and also at the Valentine’s concert ‘Red Rose for Gregory’ held at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston in February 2019, is a favourite among Jamaicans, who know her love songs word-for-word.

Her luminous vocals on the Peabo Bryson duet, A Whole New World (Grammy’s Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1994) solidified her place as music royalty.

According to her bio, Belle’s vocal abilities were demonstrated at a young age, with her first solo at the age of eight at Friendship Baptist Church in New Jersey, which was pastored by her uncle, the late Dr Fred M. Belle Jr. The entertainer’s natural gifts were further polished at Dwight Morrow High School and the Manhattan School of Music for Preparatory College where she studied classical voice training with Inga Wolfe. Although having received a full scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music, she opted to aim her sights on the elite Rutgers University to study both Africana studies and music.

In 1985 Belle left Rutgers University, her senior year, just 15 credits shy of completing her degree, to go on the road with the Grammy Award, the Manhattans . She remained with them for two years before being spring boarded into her own career.

Thirty years after leaving Rutgers and 10 albums later, Belle started taking online courses, which earned her bachelor’s degree in Africana studies and a minor in music. She walked the stage with her ‘new class’ from Rutgers in May of 2015.

“This achievement of finishing my degree which I started almost 30 years ago and finally being done was a bittersweet moment and rates as high as my Grammy Awards,” she said.

Five Questions With ... had a quick chat with Regina Belle prior to her performance in Jamaica.

1. How do you feel about returning to Jamaica what will surely be an incredible performance?

Setting foot on Jamaican soil is always a sublime experience. In all the years that I have visited, there has never been a disappointing moment!

2 .Is there anything in particular that connects you with the Jamaican audience?

The Jamaican crowds are different in that when you give them a beat, they get up out of their seats and move. This I absolutely love because it becomes more of an immersive experience while performing versus just sitting back and watching me perform.

3. How were you introduced to reggae and dancehall music?

My former manager, the late Mervyn Dash, was from Trinidad and many years ago he introduced me to some of the old-school Jamaican artistes like Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear and I was already familiar with Bob Marley and the Wailers. I am of a certain age, so some of my faves like Shaggy, Sean Paul, and Beenie Man will always elucidate or display that fact. I have listened to a few artistes of this genre though, like Shenseea. That beat on Blessed is bananas!

4. Name one place in the island that you’d like to visit and why?

I am a July baby so, being a water sign I absolutely love water. I would love to visit some of the great waterfalls. In all of the years that I have been coming to Jamaica, I’ve gone to the beaches of Negril, Ocho Rios, Kingston and more, but never to any of the great waterfalls like Konoko Falls. I don’t necessarily want to climb it but to behold it with my own eyes would be a nice bucket-list moment.

5. Can you share with us something you learned about Jamaica that you didn’t know prior to performing here.

There is much I didn’t know about the history of Jamaica before getting there my very first time when I travelled with the Manhattans in the summer of 1985. I knew that there were millions of Africans that were transported into slavery from the 1600s to the early 1800s throughout Europe, America and many of the islands. However, I did not know that Jamaica was one of the larger importers of enslavement. I always focused on that sinful shame as being Europe and America’s greatest sin. I had somehow misplaced the horrific and traumatising actions of slavery to yet another one of its geographical locations.

BRAWTA:

What is your go-to meal when visiting the island?

My go-to meal is always the fish and the mangoes. Whatever is fresh for that day that is always what I want, and the mangoes are the best. Wait ... don’t let me forget the pineapples! The pineapples seem to be more golden and sweeter in Jamaica then here in the States.

entertainment@gleanerjm.com