Happy New Year to all reggae music fans worldwide and let us hope that the glorious recordings and song-writing that once emulated from Jamaica will find a new outlet and that the singers and musicians who wish to play real, authentic reggae will blow us away with amazing, new, original ‘sounds and pressure’ for this year. Whilst Jamaica becomes more obsessed with ‘Island Pop’ or ‘Jamaican Fusion’ music we respectfully ask the young musicians and producers to remember that we can get hip hop, r n b, rap, dance and house beats from America and Europe so we look to Jamaica for Jamaican music.

It was a tremendous honour and indeed a surprise for me to receive an MBE (Member Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire) from The Queen in her New Year’s Honours List, for ‘services to broadcasting’ . I was proud, not just for myself, but for the music of Jamaica which I have been associated with since I began working with the BBC back in 1978. Jamaica is (at time of writing) still a part of The Commonwealth and its music has been an integral part of British pop music culture for over 40 years. The investiture ceremony will take place at Buckingham Palace on 14th February.