Ben has met Jeneile Osborne (born in 1981), better known as Queen Omega, and wants to tell you all about the meeting with the Trinidadian reggae singer.
Here a short biography about her:
Queen Omega hails from San Fernando in Trinidad. Encouraged by her mother (to whom she pays moving tribute on “Mama”), she began entering local talent shows from the age of nine, writing her own calypsos and even rapping on national television.
Later on, she sang backing vocals for local producer Kenny Philips, accompanying numerous top Soca acts both in the studio and on stage. Raised in a musical family, she grew up listening to soul artists like Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, and Whitney Houston, as well as jazz and the traditional music of Trinidad. Such foundations were to serve her well later on; her favorites, however, were reggae & dancehall.
Inspired by the teachings of Emperor Haile Selassie I, her songwriting skills soon blossomed, with roots and reality themes coming to the fore as her love of Rastafari deepened. It was on a trip to Jamaica with the Solomon Band where she performed at the Caribbean Music Expo in late 2000 that she met producer Mickey D, who brought her to London the following year for sessions that resulted in her debut set, “Queen Omega”. This was followed by several hit singles and a second album titled “Pure Love
Early 2004 Jet Star released “Away From Babylon”, Queen Omega’s third and most accomplished album then, finding her still residing within Mickey D’s Green House Family. With these three albums and many well-received live performances, Queen Omega blazed a trail for female roots reggae artists.
Check out an exclusive interview with Queen Omega:
And she continued to do so with the brand new collection of tunes. Under the wings of the very talented French production Bost & Bim and the label; Special Delivery Music, she showed that she has improved her vocal delivery further. She mixes her standard singing with deejaying and is equally efficient at doing both. Besides that, she once again fully showcases her devastating ability to write to the point messages.
Queen Omega is well on her way to creating a sort of consistency the roots side of reggae has never had from a female artist. Outstanding tracks are “Selassie I Know”, “Love Each Other”, “Me Beg Yu”, “Keep The Faith”, “No Retire”, the combination song with Buju Banton titled “Perfect Combination”, and the title track “Destiny”. Her distinctive voice, the conscious lyrics, and some real good riddims – fresh originals as well as do-overs – makes the CD truly worthwhile adding to your collection.
Queen Omega is Raggae
In 2008 Queenie as she is fondly called by many, performed at many reggae festivals in North America, headlining the Northwest World Music festival in Eugene, Oregon. And in 2009 she toured Brazil and France (Garance Reggae Festival with Don Carlos & Barrington Levy).
The superbly talented Empress in 2010 recorded with Jah Sun on his Gravity EP and toured with Marcia Griffiths. 2011 saw her performing on tour in Portugal, Sweden, France, and the French West Indies. With the release of a new LP produced by High Fly Music, 2012 was a major year for Queen Omega as she was on tour in France, Germany, La Réunion. She also received the much deserved Merlin Lynn Taitt Award for Music in 2012.
Now under the management of Graeme Sealy and Trini Productions; Queen Omega continues to tour the Caribbean, Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland.. ). She also has performed on many of the largest Reggae festival stages such as; Reggae Rising (USA), SNWMF (USA), JaSound (France), African Music Festival (Germany), and Sao Paulo (Brazil).
Discography
- Queen Omega (2001),
- Pure Love (2003), Green House Family/Jet Star
- Away From Babylon (2004), Charm/Jet Star
- Destiny (2005), Nocturne/Special Delivery
- Servant of Jah Army (2008)
- Together We Aspire, Together We Achieve (2012), Greatest Friends Records
I’ve met Quinine and a couple of her friends in March 2018 in Trinidad. Together we went by boat to an island located west of Port of Spain where I interviewed the reggae artist and got to know her in a private setting. I really enjoyed her attitude and humbleness as well as her passion for music. We had many great laughs and spiritual conversations about the purpose of life. On our way back to the coast it got pretty stormy. Therefore many people on board the tiny boat got a little anxious. However when Queen Omega started to sing we all felt peaceful and relaxed.
Check out my interview with the Queen and have a listen to my favorite song of her:
For more information about Jeneile Osborne please check out the following links:
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