NADINE SUTHERLAND AMONG HONOREES AT TRIBUTE TO THE GREATS!

Audio engineer Dennis Thompson is one of nine individuals who will be honored at this year’s Tribute To The Greats show, which will be launched in July. This is the 20th anniversary of ‘Tribute’, which salutes veterans of Jamaica’s music industry.

Thompson’s younger brother, Michael, an audio engineer and disc jockey, will also be honored.

“Tributes To The Greats continues to look at the foundation, the pioneers and true ambassadors of the music. We’re also looking at the family,” Kingsley Goodison, event conceptualizer, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“The Thompson brothers, in terms of engineering, deserve to be mentioned. Dennis especially helped to clean up the sound,” Goodison continued.

The Thompson brothers are graduates of Kingston College. Dennis has had an outstanding career working as a recording and touring engineer with a number of legendary artistes including Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Dennis Brown.

He was engineer for Marley’s last concert, which took place at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 23 1980.

The other recipients are:

• Olivia “Babsy” Grange — outstanding contribution to the music industry for over 40 years;
• Omar Davies — music historian, outstanding support to the music industry for over 20 years;
• Jerry Small — musicologist, photographer for over 40 years;
• Nadine Sutherland — singer/songwriter;
• Count Owen — mento and calypso singer/musician for over 60 years;
• Alphanso Castro — dancer, percussionist with Carlos Malcolm and The Afro-Jamaican Rhythms, and;
• Martin and Derrick –—pioneer artistes.

Tribute To The Greats was first staged in 1998 by Kingsley Goodison, who is still its principal. Goodison and his team have recognized over 100 music industry stalwarts since ‘Tribute’s’ inception.